The Ranger War: Prequel to Ultra Force by TheFightingSpirit
by ShinySephiroth
Summary: In the multiverse exists a world named Toku, filled with heroes. Given the absence of evil, its heroes grew restless. On a continent populated by heroes known as Rangers, a curious sport has taken root: they battle each other. Someone is orchestrating the whole thing, keeping track of ratings and battle results. Could such a person actually want the heroes to defeat each other...?
1. Prologue

**NOTE - This is transcribed from a story headed by TheFightingSpirit on Rangerboard. The co-authors were ShinySephiroth, RangerSilver6, evilgreenranger1993, and U.R Dimand

 **Prologue**

It was night. The capital city of Toku was peaceful at that time, except in a nearby park where two people were standing opposite each other, staring intently.

"I'm here as you requested... let's get this on!" One of them said.

The other merely grinne as they both took our their power morphers. "It's Henshin Time!"

They both transformed: one red; one blending in with the night with red stripes to accent his outfit. They began fighting.

Several hours later and the black ranger was tried. The fighting was intense, but both had gained a greater respect for each other.

"Give up?" The red ranger asked.

"Heh, heh, not a chance. Now's my chance to _shine_!" The black ranger declared as he inserted a distinct looking disk into his morpher. In a flash his morpher transformed into what was known as a "Legendary Morpher", while in his other hand a ranger figure, or Key, appeared.

"Legendary Ranger Mode! Jungle Fury! Jungle Beast, Spirit Unleashed!"

The black ranger lit up in a violet light and, suddenly, in his place stood the Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger...

. . .

JB sat on a boulder, staring at what looked like a thriving metropolis in the distance. He looked up at Toku's bilunar sky, desperate for an answer.

 _How did this happen?_

He heard something behind him. He looked to see what it was. At first he saw nothing. Then... something sitting on the boulder behind him caught his eye.

"Huh? What is that?" He grabbed it and looked it over. "It looks like an old power morpher. How did it get here...?"

He jumped off the boulder. The air was cold against his skin. He unrolled his sleeves to keep himself warm. He looked into the woods, but couldn't see anything. He looked down at the morpher.

 _Should I keep it? I guess it is suspect that a morpher happens to fall into my possession after such a life changing event... Do I trust it?_

He looked at it, unsure what to do.

 _It is probably sabotaged... What if it infects me with a bio-virus?_

Despite his hesitation, he felt drawn to the morpher. He felt like he should become one with it. He felt like it was truly _his_.

"Well, I guess there is one thing I _can_ do..." JB said, setting the mysterious morpher down on a rock before him.

He took the morpher apart, looking at its circuitry. He noticed a particular cluster head that caught his attention and caused him to pause.

"Well, it looks like someone is trying to keep track of these morphers after all. This looks similar to a GPS router." He said as he pulled that piece of circuitry out, slipping the disabled unit into a pouch on his uniform. He then unrolled the main body of the morpher, revealing it to be a belt. He put it on around his waist.

"Hmm... Well, as long as I am here..."

Looking down at his uniform he peeled off the insignia of his organization from the breast of his jumpsuit. "I don't know what I am getting into or where I am... Best keep my anonymity for now..."

And with that, JB made his way toward the city.

. . .

Deep in the city, an event had begun. The announcer, a small man wearing a loud jacket, diamond-rim shades, and platform boots with transparent soles, stepped up to the microphone. For a short few moments, he studied the crowd gathering around him in the street.

"I know you're out there, ladies and gentlemen! Can I get a _heck yeah!_?"

Only one or two people replied, but when compared to the general make-up of the crowd they seemed by far the most excited. Their response made the announcer feel good.

"Well then, I guess the rest of you don't know what time it is!"

He flung his arms out wide and a figure in a green and silver hooded cloak stepped up toward him through the crowd to join the announcer. Upon reaching the announcer, the hooded man folded his arms. He didn't seem that interested in what was going on, either.

The camera crews refocused their shots.

"For one night only, good people of Toku... This right here is the spectacular of the century! The Green Dragon's _Take on All-Comers Challenge!_ You heard me right!" The announcer paused at that moment finally for a breath before continuing, "His rise from lowly high school science teacher to being the undefeated champion of the league has been a road pock-marked with danger, but he's here before you now... **Dr. Thomas Oliver**!"

Thomas threw off his cloak. He was a muscular man with short spiked hair wearing a Green Dragon-brand vest top in, you guessed it, green. Looking at him now, one could hardly believe he'd once been a man of science.

Snatching the microphone from the announcer, Thomas addressed the crowd. "That's right, you guys. If anybody out there thinks they can beat me... then come get it! Bring in on!"


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

JB walked into the city, wondering what he would find. To his surprise, he saw quite a few people with either morphers somewhere on their person, or already morphed.

 _Well, I guess I am in the right place._ He thought as he moved down the street. As he did, he saw a gathering at a plaza. There seemed to be a commotion beginning, so he decided to investigate.

As he approached, he saw a man throw off a green robe. The man was rather thick, with short black hair. The man grabbed a microphone and sent out a challenge to anyone thinking they could beat him.

JB stared at the man. Something looked familiar about him...

After a few moments, it sparked. "Tommy Oliver? _The_ Tommy!? How is that even... Well, can't look a gift horse in the mouth! I am sure he can help me out!"

JB felt eyes on him. He hadn't realized he had been talking out loud. He rather sheepishly slipped into the crowd to avoid the continuing stares as he made his way to the front.

Meanwhile, Tommy sat at a table on the stage waiting for challengers to sign up. There may have been others before him: JB didn't know, since he had been lost in his own thoughts.

As JB continued up to the stage, Tommy himself (who preferred to be called Thomas at this point in his life) thought about the monotony of it all, the endless fighting. He personally hated this part of the job most of all. The paperwork, the endless sob stories and cries of 'you're the greatest ever'. All he wanted to do was find a worthy challenger. A league champion may have seemed a cool thing to be, but when he'd already beaten everyone there was worth beating, things had gotten a little boring... to say the least.

By that point, JB had walked up the stairs onto the stage. As he approached Thomas, the announcer still in his... interesting jacket stared at JB, slowly nodding and rubbing his hands together.

 _Okay, creeper..._ JB thought, shrugging the man's presence off. He approached the Legendary Ranger. He stuck out his hand, offering it to Thomas.

"Hello, sir! It is an honor to meet you! My name is JB and I desperately need your help!"

He looked up at JB, sighed and put on his public face. "Nice to meet you too, man. What can I do you for?"

The announcer stepped closer and clapped his hands, speaking to JB. "Are you going to sign up or what? The Green Dragon isn't made of spare time you know."

Thomas rolled his eyes. "Come on Jerry, give the guy a break. We've already got plenty of people for me to fight." He waved Jerry away and smiled at JB. "I'm always happy to help a fan, okay? But I'm going to have to ask you to sign up. Win and..." He slid a fresh pen over the table. "... _maybe_ I'll listen to what you have to say. Deal?"

 _What!? The famous Tommy won't help me until I beat him? What is that!?_

JB rubbed his morpher subconsciously. _Well, I guess I will do it. I have this morpher for a reason, and it should be safe now. If there is anyone who can help me, it's Tommy._

JB grabbed the pen and began to write. It asked for his name. _I don't want to leave a paper trail..._

He thought about what he would write for a moment, then scribbled it onto the paper and walked off. On the paper the name "Zenith Ranger" could be read.

"Good luck!" Thomas called out to the retreating form of the...

 _Zenith Ranger?_ Thomas thought. _Well, alright... I guess that's as good a name as any._

All the while, another person in the crowd stared up in awe at Thomas. He couldn't believe he was in the same vicinity as The Green Dragon. The man, known as Hunter, smiled to himself.

"If I can take him on... maybe it'll show everyone what I have to be a true ranger!" He thought to himself. He then then made his way up the stage to who he esteemed as the most legendary ranger in history. He felt strongly that if he signed up to fight the man that he could convince him to help him create own team!

"Tommy Oliver, it is an honor to meet you and I humbly take up your challenge cause your defeat will show everyone what I have to prove!" Hunter stated enthusiastically.

Thomas looked up and smiled at Hunter, the next overbearing fan to sign the challenge sheet. "You can certainly try. Good luck. May the best man, no... _ranger..._ win."

 _What_ does _he have to prove?_ Thomas thought to himself curiously. _That he's willing to lose to me?_

 _"The same to you," Hunter said as he headed down to await his turn. After only a few moments of waiting, Hunter's impatience got the best of him._

 _Man it's so boring around here. Wonder if anyone might wanna help me with some sparring practice? Hunter thought as he began to scan the area for a potential partner. That's when he spotted JB. Nodding to himself, he made his way over to the man._

While Hunter made his way to JB, another young man in a business suit stood in the crowd with his sights focused in on Thomas. The man, named Syd, subconsciously turned a technique disk over in his hand repeatedly.

"Thomas Oliver..." He said outloud with a grin. "This could be fun..."

Nodding to himself, he made his way up to the stage and without saying a word signed himself up.

JB sat on a bench in the plaza, trapped in his own thoughts. His mind had taken him back to yesterday when these life changing events had started:

 _"Ahhh! " Screamed one mechanic, running from the blasts._

 _JB had just walked out of the room himself moments earlier. Hearing the commotion, he ran back and couldn't believe his eyes._

"So you're the guy who wants Tommy's help, right?" Hunter said as he finally had made his way to JB, interrupting his memory. "What could be so important that you need one of the most legendary rangers in Toku's history?"

JB looked up to see Hunter, a young man in a black and red shirt. He recognized him from the crowd. He had followed JB up to speak with Thomas. JB saw a determined look on his face, reminding him of the look he saw on many cadet faces who he'd worked with... before. JB wondered if he wore the same expression, himself, at times.

"Just something I have had my mind on," JB answered. He then thought about how perhaps this person may be able to answer some questions for him. "By the way... you mentioned he is a legend of Toku. Could you... elaborate more on that?"

 _A young man who'd been sitting on another bench nearby wearing a white shirt brushed his long fringe back out of his face and raised an eyebrow at JB and Hunter. He could hardly believe what he was hearing._

"What do you mean elaborate on him being a legend?" Dylan shook his head. "That's the Green Dragon. I mean there are others I suppose. GingaGreen for one, but... he's Dr. Oliver, dude. Just... legend pretty much sums it up!"

 _What is a Ginga Green? JB thought, being a little disappointed not being able to fully understand some of what was going on. He was sure the man who he knew as Tommy could help him out, though._

 _Before JB could say anything further, Dylan continued. "I guess he's not really the protagonist or anything. Heh... that would be me... but you know when you win that many battles..."_

Dylan trailed off, looking back up at the stage. It seemed the Dragon was done meeting his fans and dealing with the sign ups. Thomas quickly moved off to the side and had begun loosening up for the competition.

That, or his announcer-come-manager friend was trying to move things on... again.

When Dylan had signed himself up in the earlier rush, he'd seen the man rubbing his hands together like he had something riding on this challenge. The question was what? Money? Made more sense than selflessly seeing Dr. O's fame grow even bigger...

Dylan blinked and mentally shrugged. Ah, well... not what I'm here for...

Hunter nodded, looking at JB. "Tommy is a legend. Not only was he the longest serving ranger in recorded history, but he even mentored the Dino Thunder Rangers!"

JB smiled at both Dylan and Hunter. "Okay, thanks for the information. I think Tommy's history is fascinating. I was just wondering about... other things. Hehe... don't worry, it's not important."

At that, the man known as Syd came across the group. Wanting to strike up a conversation and size up the competition, he smiled and waved.

"You three sign up, too?"

Giving Syd the thumbs up, JB answered: "Yes, I signed up."

"Yes we did!" Hunter answered excitedly, almost talking over JB. "Hey... since we all signed up why don't we get some sparring practice in so we'll be in top-form?"

Syd couldn't help but smile. This is exactly the kind of thing he was needing. Pulling out a disk which JB eyed curiously, Syd held it up next to his head.

"Disks or no disks?" Syd asked with a smile.

Dylan scoffed and waved Syd off. "I don't spar. It's all or nothing with me! Besides, I'm kinda saving myself for the main event. Know what I'm saying?"

"Disks of course!" Hunter declared, pulling one out himself.

At that, Syd and Hunter began speaking with each other about disks, something JB was not quite understanding. Instead of trying to keep up with them, JB turned his attention to Dylan.

"So, you said you only fight when it counts. How long have you been a ranger? What team are you a member of?"

"I'm not part of any team, man. It's just me, myself, and I. I'm Dylan by the way. Nice to meet you."

 _Dylan, huh? Seems nice enough. Definitely goal oriented. Pretty confident, too._ JB thought as he looked at him, all while the man he thought of as Black Shirt (Hunter) and Disk Guy (Syd) talked things out.

Figuring he needed to introduce himself, JB smiled.

"I'm... the Zenith Ranger." He felt silly calling himself by that name, but at that time he still was unsure of who he was dealing with exactly.

For all his talk, Dylan was far more observant that people gave him credit. There was a mystery to be found around the guy who didn't know the legendary Thomas Oliver. What exactly, he had no idea at all. Dylan got that some people didn't buy into the whole ranger thing, that they didn't enjoy it as much as he did, but even _they_ knew the basics. The media made sure of that. He also found it curious that JB had given him not his real name but his ranger alias. There was something off about him...

 _Since this guy is playing his cards so close to his chest, I'll play along._ Dylan thought. _No use rocking the boat right away._

"... I had been training with a team." JB continued. "I wasn't a member yet. Maybe I can prove myself to them?"

Vocalizing like this helped JB realize why he picked up the morpher to begin with: to prove himself. He subconsciously touched the pouch on his jumpsuit where he kept his team's insignia that had once been on the uniform itself.

"Alright, I'll call you Zen for now then," Dylan grinned. "We've all got something to prove, I suppose.

"As for me? Well, I'm going to be the greatest ranger of all time, just you wait. And don't think you can stand in my way neither. Got it?" He shook his head and chuckled. "But that doesn't mean we can't be friends. Maybe I can help you catch your team's attention. You don't know yet but I'm pretty good at that kind of thing."

Dylan was taking a liking to the mysterious "Zenith Ranger". Even though he was very mysterious... The subconscious motion JB had made towards the pouch of hiss jumpsuit hadn't gone unnoticed by Dylan.

JB nodded at Dylan and smiled. "So, is this bout with... The Green Dragon... a free for all, or one at a time?"

"Oh uh, well he usually takes people on one at a time. League rules, you know." Dylan waved his hand around like he was trying to think of what to say next. "... I don't know what he's doing this time though, but it won't matter how they play it. I'm still gonna beat him in seconds flat."

JB chuckled. "Well, I have seen Tommy in action. The man is a beast. Whatever he chooses to do, I am sure he will be difficult to take down."

As Hunter began to stretch, apparently for the sparring he was to do, Syd took the opportunity to head back and speak with the duo he'd left behind. "So... wonder why they're putting on this little show to begin with? Name's Syd Drew, by the way. I go by the title Arc Ranger."

JB looked at Syd. "Wait, did I miss your battle? That was quick. Who won?"

Still stretching, Hunter piped in with a laugh. "We haven't started yet! Hehe! By the way, the name's Hunter! No relation to that Crimson Thunder Storm guy!"

JB looked at the men around him: Dylan, the confident one; Syd, the nice guy who may be a business man. Calls himself the Arc Ranger; Hunter, the eager fighter.

 _And then there is me. Add in a girl and we could be a power ranger team._

He looked at Hunter. "Name's Zenith Ranger."

JB was eager to see the disks in action. He points to the one Syd was holding. "So you guys are going to battle. Let's see how you guys handle your disks, huh?"

"Sure," Hunter said casually as he pulled his morpher out. "It's Henshin Time!"

JB stared as he saw the familiar glow of a ranger morphing. He was shocked to see the morpher on Hunter looked identical to his own. JB looked down to it curiously. _Where did this thing come from!?_

"AstroRanger!" Hunter cried out, posing as he did in a way JB almost found comical. Dylan wasn't too impressed, himself.

Syd put on his morpher, a wrist mounted one, before getting ready for his own morph.

"It's Morphin' Time!"

Syd was soon dressed in his silver and blue ranger suit. Posing as Hunter had done, he cried out, "ArcRanger!"

"Wow! Awesome outfit and pose! I should've done that..." Hunter said, folding his arms across his chest.

 _Great Hunter, first morph and you already look like a loser..._ He sulked.

"You have the first move," Hunter then stated confidently, hoping to make up for his perceived lack of "coolness".

"Oh no, the honor is all yours... I _insist_." Syd replied, waiting to see if he would accept.

Yet thinking of the fact both he and Hunter had the same morpher and not interested in the battle, JB thought, _Are we members of the same team? How can I work with someone if I don't know who there are? Why would we have the same morpher if we are not members of the same team?_

At that, a small group of people gathered to watch the match. They were ready for Thomas Oliver but were more than eager for an "appetizer". JB thought he saw someone in what looked like a leather jacket and white robe move about quickly but then vanished. If the person had actually been there, he was lost in the crowd.

 _Interesting outfit..._ JB thought before dismissing the fast moving person from his mind.

As Hunter readied himself, JB turned to Dylan. "This should be interesting. Who do you think will win: Hunter or Syd? Hehe... I hope they don't tire themselves out before the match. By the way... When _is_ the match, anyway?"

Over the roar of the crowd and Syd morphing, JB 's voice got drowned out. Dylan could not hear him.

"Alright then." Hunter cried, running forward and starting off with a roundhouse kick. "Let's see if my training's paid off!"

As this was occurring, JB noticed that although ArcRanger had a wrist mounted morpher it was different on him after he'd actually morphed. On his post-morph suit it was identical to both his and AstroRanger's morpher.

As ArcRanger launched his first move, JB slipped away into the crowd. He spotted an alleyway and ran in. When he saw no one around, he looked down on his morpher to concentrate. He needed to figure out what was going on.

"Here goes nothing... It's henshin time!" JB yelled with authority.

He waited. Nothing happened.

"Hmmm... it's morphin' time!" He felt slightly giddy, using the role call of one of his favorite teams. Still nothing.

 _I must figure this out!_ JB thought. He didn't know how to get the thing to work. He took the belt off. _Well, I did enroll as a technician for a reason..._ Once again, he slipped the morpher off his belt for the purpose of tearing it apart.

After a few moments of tinkering, JB was sure he had overwritten the morpher's previous voice command. He recorded the new voice command and put the changer back together.

He looked around again and couldn't see anyone. Standing as tall as he could at 5'11", JB called out, "Zenith: Ascension!"

Although he thought it was a little corny it sounded right to him, rolling off his tongue. Energy crackled as he was consumed by power. He looked down to find himself in a semi - reflective, crimson suit. The suit felt powerful... more powerful than anything he'd ever felt in his life. He was ecstatic.

 _I did it! I finally have become a Power Ranger! I-_

A jolt of pain shot through his body. He slammed into a wall as he lost his balance, slightly denting it.

"Arrrrgh!" He yelled as he fell to his knees, clutching his left arm. _What is happening!?_ He was bent in a fetal position. He then started seizing violently. Sparks shot out from his suit.

Then, as soon as it had begun, he felt fine.

"Weird... I never saw anyone else have that happen on their first morph..." He said to himself as he brushed dust off his suit. He looked down at his belt as he did.

On one side was a device with lights. On the other: a pouch with a single disk. He pulled it out to inspect it. The lighting was dim, but he could make out the name of the disk engraven on its outer rim: Triassic Shield.

He placed it inside his disk reader. It sparked and started smoking. "Whoa! Hey!"

With another crackle of power, JB found himself in a powered up mode of the crimson suit he'd worn before. The suit was bulkier, with added armor in the chest area. He could _feel_ that it was more powerful.

"Power down!"

He was pleased with his morph. It was everything he dreamed it would be (outside of the first bit of the morph, which still caused him some alarm). Straightening himself out, he made his way back to the battle to see how things had turned out.


	3. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two**

Te tall man in the black coat walked up to the crowd watching the battle between Hunter and Syd, staying silent. The very same man JB had thought he'd seen for a brief moment in the crowd, he had signed up for the battle long before the others had but needed some space for himself before the inevitable crowd of people got in his way. It looked to him as if the main string of fights would start soon enough and had decided to make his way to the arena. There was no turning back at this point for him... He would continue forward no matter the cost... and no one would get in his way.

The man, whose name was Sean, stood with his morpher on and a Disk in his hand. Putting the disk back in its container, he stared at everyone around him with confidence.

"Dont worry... we can show them the power of the _Blood Pride_... No one stands a chance..." He said before slipping back into the crowd.

. . .

Unbeknownst to the people of Toku, every street lamp in the city kept hidden in itself a surveillance camera. Only the camera's creator was aware of their existence. One such camera had swiveled toward an alleyway and had caught JB hacking his Avatar Belt before morphing. Whatever JB had done to it, he seemed to satisfy himself enough to return to the Green Dragon's silly little game. The camera's creator took note of it...

. . .

Syd sidestepped around the roundhouse kick attack and swung at Hunter from behind.

"Woah!" Hunter cried out, ducking as he spun around.

Catching himself, he stood upright and took out one of his Disks. Slipping into into his wrist morpher caused a Legendary Morpher with a Ranger Key to appear. "Well... let's use those Disks! Gokai Change!"

"GEEEEKIRANGER!" The device shouted as Hunter was engulfed in a violet light. After a moment, Hunter stepped forward from the flash of Purple Morphing Energy, having become the ranger known as GekiViolet.

"Now let's see what _I_ can do." He said, voice saturated in confidence.

"Interesting... Let's see how this goes." Syd mused. He then ran in to deliver another attack, waiting to use his own "special" Disk for a later time.

Hunter quickly sidestepped and used his morpher to shoot Morphing Energy based beams at Syd.

"I was gonna save this but I wanted to try out the Disk system for myself!" Hunter exclaimed with a laugh. "Seems to work!"

"So it seems... My turn then!" Syd replied as he drew a Disk and inserted it into his morpher. It caused the armor belonging to the ranger known as GokaiSilver to form onto him.

"ArcRanger. Gold Mode."

"Woah! All the sixth rangers!" Hunter said as he got into a wolf-like fighting stance. "Look's like we're both using pirated powers."

"So it seems." Syd replied, getting into his own stance.

At that, Hunter placed his hand over the morpher and charged it up with Purple Morphing Energy.

"Rigid Fist!" He declared as he shot another blast out of the morpher.

Syd dodged, using the enhanced speed of Gold Mode to run right up to his opponent before striking with a punch, also strengthened by the mode.

Finally caught offguard, Hunter flew back due to the impact of the attack and down to the ground. Catching his breath, he pulled himself back up.

"Man, that packs a punch..." He said, smiling behind his visor. "Nice attack. I have one too!"

Placing a hand once again on his morpher, Hunter summoned an immense blast toward Syd. Thankfully for Syd, his armor lessened the impact considerably. Syd still found himself thrown to the ground, though.

"Nice shot," Syd said, standing back up into a fighting stance. "You certainly know how to work that form."

"Thanks, I've been practicing." Hunter replied, loosening his own stance. "You're doing great too, I still can't get over how you're using Gold Mode!"

Syd shrugged. "Would be nice if I had the spear as well... But this is useful!"

"One more round?" Hunter asked, holding one finger up.

"You'll exhaust yourself before you get a go at Oliver. Hehe... Plus, I very much want to watch this match." Syd replied, turning his back abruptly on Hunter to face the ring area.

. . .

During the match between Syd and Hunter, the Announcer had stepped back up to the microphone and had cleared his throat loudly. He wanted _his_ match to be the star of the day, not some sparring match between two relative nobodies. He had composed himself and, ignoring the fighting, had begun to speak in the following manner:

"Let's cut to the chase. The first challengers looking to get beaten by Dr. Oliver are..." He dipped his hand into a bowl containing many scraps of paper and pulled out not one, but two pieces.

As he did so, Dylan (also ignoring the Hunter/Syd fight) stood off to the side. He almost did a double take when he caught the announcer say _challenger s_... in the plural. "What the...?"

The announcer continued: "Dylan and Sean!"

A thousand thoughts ran through Dylan's mind. Most notably: _Am I fighting them both or just the Dragon?_

. . .

JB had made his way back to the plaza. As he did, he noticed Syd and Hunter were just ending their sparring match. He also noticed the man he knew as Tommy back up on stage, which had a clearing below it converted into a ring. Standing near the ring him was the man in white robe and leather jacket JB had glimpsed in the crowd earlier. The man he didn't know was named Sean. The man he'd simply decided to call Leather Jacket.

JB watched as Leather Jacket, almost robotically, stepped into the ring. Planting his feet in place, he stood motionless. His long black jacket flowed behind him as he stared off into the vast crowd, focusing on nothing but his own thoughts.

"So... the Green Dragon..." Sean stated, changing his glance to stare directly into Thomas' eyes. "Tell me... what's your power and why is everyone so excited to see you?"

Sean crossed his arms. His had been a hard journey, filled with many hardships. One lesson he'd learned was due to his predicament... and that predicament was that he had lost his memory. He did not know _how_ he had lost it or _why_. And for him, none of those things mattered. All that did matter was what he _felt_... that he had to continue forward toward... _something_. Something out there was calling to him. He didn't know why, but something beckoned him and somehow, deep down, he knew that every battle he fought in brought him closer to whatever that _thing_ calling to him was.

Another thing he learned about having amnesia was that he was never in on most of the jokes everyone said. That, or the excitement that came when someone amazing stepped around, like Dr. Oliver. Even if he _had_ known who Thomas was, it wouldn't change his mission. He would win every encounter leading up to finding what was calling out to him... even if he had to take on _hundreds_ of rangers.

. . .

Leather Jacket pointed at Tommy and said something JB couldn't make out. He had a great look of determination on his face. There was something... majestic about Leather Jacket. Something JB felt drawn to. Something that also made JB feel uneasy...

Not having heard the Announcer call out both Dylan _and_ Sean's name, JB thought, _I guess Dylan was right: it is one on one. _

JB decided to get a sneak peak on "the Dragon's" fighting style to not only see what exactly he may be up against when his name was called out, but also (mostly) because he was excited to see Tommy in action. It had been many years since he'd seen Tommy Oliver fight, and it had all been through old footage anyway.

As he made his way closer to the ring, JB noticed Hunter and Syd off to the side, standing and staring at Leather Jacket and Thomas.

 _Oh! Megaforce Silver's powered up mode!_ JB though excitedly. _That must be ArcRanger's disc. Hmmm... Jungle Fury Violet Ranger. AstroRanger must be using a Legendary Morpher?_

JB felt proud he could remember a bit about past Ranger teams. He had always dreamed of being a ranger himself. Now, he had the ability to become one.

 _I wish I could do something with these powers beside battle one of my role models. Though once I speak with him, hopefully he can me sort this mess out..._

 _. . ._

Thomas winked at Sean. "Why am I such a big deal? Heheh... You'll see..."

As Thomas replied to Sean (finding his question to be quite odd), Dylan stepped into the make-shift arena. He looked first to Sean, then at the Green Dragon himself.

 _"What's the deal?" Dylan asked skeptically. "Why the two of us?"_

"You know, one-on-one can get pretty boring when you're me." Thomas replied with a shrug before pulling out a gold power morpher from his belt. Set in the center was the source of his power: the Dragon Coin. "So... I'm mixing it up. Simple."

"You heard the man!" Said the Announcer, rushing in to join the three of the fighters in the ring. He shouted loud enough that most in the plaza could hear him even _without_ a microphone. He didn't want anyone missing the main attraction and his excitement demonstrated that.

"The challenge is," The Announcer said enthusiastically. "You guys have to work together to beat the Green Dragon! There are no other rules. Are we clear?"

As Announcer spoke, Hunter and Syd made their way closer to the ring. Syd was the first to demorph, prompting Hunter to follow suit. Hunter was the first to notice the unusual nature of two rangers being pitted against Dr. Oliver.

"Well this is a treat..." Hunter remarked, leaning in close for Syd to hear him over the roar of the crowd. "Two on one!?"

Syd nodded, lost in thought as he wondered why such a break from standard protocol. As he did, he noticed JB standing near them. He smiled and waved JB over to watch the match with both him and Hunter.

 _Hunh... Is it every man for himself?_ Syd asked himself mentally as he parked himself as close to the ring as he could get.

JB, having finally clawed his way to Hunter and Syd, tapped Syd on the shoulder and leaned in himself to get a word in.

"You and me... we have the same kind of morpher. Why is that?" JB asked as loudly as he could into Syd's ear. After having noticed Thomas with his standard "Mighty Morphin'" Power Morpher, yet Hunter having a wrist mounted morpher, he wanted confirmation of what exactly was going on in Toku. Were he and Syd a part of the same ranger team? Were they supposed to work together?

"Not just you and me," Whisper-yelled Syd. "Quite a few people have this particular morpher! Sort of a generic, catch-all!"

JB nodded slowly, creeping up closer to Syd to not have to yell so loudly. "Okay... Where do they come from!?"

Syd shrugged. "Now that I can't tell you... You have a major interest in this Ranger tech, don't you!?"

JB nodded. "Yeah, I guess you could that!"

Syd pulled out two business cards at that, handing one to JB and the other to Hunter. JB looked down at them and saw they were for a company called Rebel Technology.

"Why don't both of you come see me after this!?" Syd asked as the crowd roared louder. Dylan had just finished stretching and it seemed as if the match was to start. "I have something you guys might be interested in!"

Hunter took the card and put it in his pocket. "I might take you up on that offer!"

JB read Syd's name on the card: Syd Drew. JB pocketed the card in the main pouch of his jumpsuit. The same pouch holding the insignia of the organization he was a member of.

 _This guy comes from a tech firm?_ JB thought. That _means he may be involved in that GPS I ripped outta my morpher earlier. Is his company the reason I have this morpher? Were they trying to spy on me? That means they may have seen how I got here, too... I think I may need to keep this guy at arms length..._

Not wanting to show his sudden distrust of Syd, JB flashed him a smile. "Thank you, Mr. Drew! I appreciate it- Wait! Your name is Syd Drew!? Any relation to the SPD ranger!?"

Syd's face puckered a bit before his curt reply, "Cousin."

JB's excitement was difficult for him to contain, yelling even too loud for the crowd around them. "May I speak with her!? I mean, where is she!? I would _very_ much like to speak with her!"

"Calm down!" Syd almost ordered. "We don't spend that much time together!"

JB smiled at him, "That's fine! May I just know how to contact her!?"

"How about this... If you do come back to the lab with me after this, I'll give her a call and see if she comes!?" Syd answered before pointing up to the ring. "For now, it seems like they are finally gonna fight! We'll talk about this afterward, okay!?"

. . .

As Dylan had finished his stretch, Sean stepped up closer to him. Sean then looked at "Green Dragon" before back to Dylan.

"Pfft..." He muttered over the roar of the crowd. "This is pathetic... you truly have a death wish, Green Dragon! Just fighting _me_ is bad enough, but adding this one here will slightly make it worse than before!"

 _Wait... slightly!? _Dylan thought, realizing he'd been mocked.

Sean shook his head and sighed. In his mind, he knew how this would go down. No matter how strong this Green Dragon guy was, he couldn't take on two of them. He had all of the confidence in his Blood Pride...

"Death wish?" Thomas chuckled and thrust the morpher out in front of him. "I may be older than you kids, but I wouldn't count me out yet... It's morphin' time! Green Ranger Power!"

In a flash of Green Morphing Energy, Thomas was transformed from the feet up into his famous alternate persona, the Green Dragon. He stood there ominously, complete with his infamous golden Dragon Shield.

Dylan's face lit up. "Oh yeah, it's on now! Transform!"

He pulled his morpher from his pocket, unfurled the belt and clapped it on around his waist. He touched the belt's "A" shaped buckle which caused a net of power to snake out from the avatar morpher. The Morphing Energy wrapped around him, followed quickly by his white, black, and orange suit Ranger Suit. Finally, a black visor and grilled mouth piece slid down, just like on JB's "Zenith Ranger" suit. It looked similar to a stereotypical medieval knight's helmet "grill".

The Green Dragon cracked his knuckles as he saw Dylan finish his morph. "You two get the first move. Don't want to beat you _too_ quickly," Thomas said, smiling behind his visor. Laced with his normal cocky attitude, however, was a little hint of ill feeling towards them. Was it a mistake to go two-on-one? Was his cockiness going to get the better of him?

Sean looked at Dylan and shook his head. He wasn't very impressed with Dylan or his power set. Curling his lip ever so slightly in irritation, he touched his morpher.

"Go Pride..."

As he did, a red, white, and black light wrapped around him. From the blast of Morphing Energy, his helmet appeared. If formed itself at first in the shape of a lion's mouth before making itself into a helmet, a visor dropping down to cover Sean's face.

"Lets get started..." He said, as calmly as ever. "Green Dragon... I will defeat you... Oh, and whoever you are? Dylan, was it? You just stay out of my way."

The Green Ranger, without another word, unclipped the Dragon Dagger from his belt and dashed at Sean. He moved like liquid, attacking with the kind of relentless fury he was known for. Sean roared as he used the gauntlets on his forearms to block each strike. He moved as if he were a lion himself, his hands gnarled as if he had claws and he was swiping at prey. Thomas was impressed with Sean's ability to deflect the blows, but then saw an opportunity.

"Zip-dooyah!" Thomas yelled as he performed a jump kick right after faking a left sided jab from the Dragon Dagger. Sean fell for it: the kick landed on his right rib cage. He staggered back, gripping his side and growling in pain.

 _I told him being older doesn't make me slower! _Thomas thought with great pride.

Whether or not his opponents seemed to be ready for him, it didn't matter a bit to Thomas. All he knew was that it was fighting time and when it came to that, Thomas never held back.

Seeing the battle continue without him yet remembering Sean's bad attitude, Dylan hung back.

 _Did he just tell me to stand back... when he's taking on the Dr. Oliver!?_

The antagonism between to him and his "teammate" hurt Dylan's brain. Instead of worrying about it too much longer, though, Dylan pulled a Disk from the holder on his belt and slid it into the reader on his morpher. Thomas was lunging forward to strike Blood Pride Ranger yet again. Dylan knew Thomas wasn't even thinking about him anymore and saw his _own_ opportunity to strike.

"Marker system... Activate!"

Dylan lifted his fingers to his helmet, imitating the ranger known in Toku as Stag Buster. His visor flashed once. Just as he sprinted forward into battle a plain, normal baseball bat materialized directly above Sean and Green Dragon...

And gravity got to work. The baseball bat clattered off the Green Dragon's helmet and bounced right into Dylan's hand as he flipped over the legend's head. Dylan landed and swung for the back of Thomas' legs.

Still reeling from the sheer audacity of such an opening move, the Green Dragon stumbled, not having seen Dylan's next attack coming. He fell straight onto his back.

Getting up, filled with Rage, Green Dragon pointed at Dylan. "Who uses a Teleportation Disk for _that_?!"

"I do," Dylan said with a smirk beneath his white and orange helmet. "Problem?"

"I suppose not..." Green Dragon stated before spinnin to face him. He quickly reached down and grabbed his Blade Blaster from his belt, firing on Dylan quite suddenly. "But you've lost the element of surprise!"

Dylan took a hit to the shoulder and fell panting to one knee. The crowd was roaring with excitement and the Announcer couldn't have been more pleased.

"But I gained it!" Sean yelled, jumping into the air and planting both feet on Green Dragon's back.

Thomas fell forward, throwing out his hands and catching himself before he slammed face first into the mat. As he did, his Blade Blaster flew out of his hand and clattered out of the ring. Spinning up quickly, Green Dragon pulled out his Dragon Dagger once again and pointed at both Sean and Dylan.

"Alright... _now_ this is getting interesting!" He proclaimed, putting the mouthpiece of the Dagger up to his helmet's mouthplate. "Now let's see how you can handle the true power of the Green Dragon!"

Suddenly, a melodic fanfare erupted from the Dragon Dagger. The air began to feel _saturated_ with Green Morphing Energy. It made the hairs on both Sean and Dylan's arms and neck stand on end.

"Uh-oh..." Dylan stated, getting quickly into a fighting stance. "I think we may be in trouble..."


	4. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three**

The fight had picked up with great ferocity. JB watched as the Green Dragon was surrounded by what looked to be a _cloud_ of Green Morphing Energy. JB was amazed: how could someone tap so fully into the Morphing Grid to create enough Morphing Energy to be a constantly visible force around him? He'd never heard of such a thing in all of his research... Toku was truly a curious marvel. One JB was still trying to wrap his head around.

Next to him were Syd and Hunter. He did not know much about either of them, but what little he did know about Syd caused him to feel great apprehension. Syd's insistence of him to go back to his lab made JB wonder if Syd was a part of the reason JB was in Toku to begin with. JB's journey to that point in time was riddled with what he felt was great betrayal. Was this "Rebel Technologies" involved with what happened back at his base?

JB did his best to keep a straight face. More than ever, he was unsure of Syd's motives. Controlling his breathing and breaking his silence, he leaned up to Syd and whisper-yelled, "I would love to visit your lab! I'm sure Hunter would love to accompany me, as well!"

"Sounds great!" Syd replied, eyes yet fixed on the ring as he subconsciously turned his Disk over in his hand while he spoke.

JB eyed the Disk, completely uninterested in the match. As the fight in the arena continued, with Thomas slicing Dylan's baseball bat in half with the blade of his Dragon Dagger, JB reached for the Disk in his own belt pouch and produced it. He lifted it up and showed it to Syd.

"Does Rebel make these!?"

Over the roaring crowd, Syd yelled back while shaking his head, "No! We don't make the equipment! Sorry!"

"That's fine! What is your specialty!? I have had a little tech training in my past!" JB said as put away the Triassic Shield Disk.

For the first time since the battle started gaining momentum, Syd turned and looked directly at JB. There was only one thing he loved more than watching battles, and that was talking about his profession in an in-depth manner.

"We've actually been doing work with the Ranger Systems! My specific specialty is with transport systems! You heard of the Go-Busters!?"

JB shook his head. "No, never heard of them! How exactly does it work!?"

"They're one of the more recent teams! Basically a Spec Ops group!" Syd yelled over the crowd. "They use Transpods to teleport their weapons to them _while_ they're in the field. Those Transpods are made by us!"

"Ouch!" Hunter screamed, commenting on how Green Dragon's kick connected with Blood Pride Ranger's helmet. "That's _gotta_ hurt! No one messes with the Green Dragon!"

"Interesting..." JB said under his breath before looking back to Dylan. "Why do they need the Transpods!? What do these rangers... do!?"

"Quite frankly, I don't know! With there being no evil on Toku, rangers kinda need to be in a specialization like SPD or Go-Busters! Otherwise they have nothing to do! I guess that's why this sport has gotten so popular, huh!?"

 _No evil?_ JB thought, taking a note of the remark.

Syd continued with a nonchalant shrug. "We get commissioned to build the tech, how they use it is on them!"

"You know... We have all seen Tommy fight before!" JB yelled. "I am sure we can make it back before they even announce our names! Why don't you take Hunter and me to your lab right now!? I mean, this match looks like it'll go on for quite a bit longer, right!?"

At that, Sean roared and grabbed Dylan by the shoulders. Before Dylan could react, Sean threw him straight at Thomas. The two fell in a tumble of limbs.

"Pathetic!" Sean was heard proclaiming, walking slowly toward his target.

"I'd be up for it!" Hunter said suddenly.

 _I can't explain it, but this JB guy is giving me a bad vibe..._ Hunter thought to myself as he listened to Syd and JB talk. If JB was up to something, Hunter was definitely wanting to get involved.

Looking at the battle and how the two rangers seemed to be a competitive match for Green Dragon, Syd nodded. "Good point! Alright, let's go!"

Syd motioned for Hunter and JB to follow him. Bracing himself for anything, JB followed only after he saw Hunter accompany Syd. He didn't trust Syd, and was happy to have someone be with him in case things went south. After what happened to JB's base... trust was something he was truly lacking.

It took a few minutes as Syd lead them through an industrial district to a large building. Opening the large doors, Syd pointed at the chairs near the entrance inside the main foyer.

"Wait in the lobby while I get you a pair of visitor passes," Syd stated.

"Sure," Hunter said, sitting in a chair and grabbing a magazine.

As Syd walked off, JB looked around. "I have a bad feeling about this..."

Hunter looked at JB. "You're not the only one. This whole thing just feels... off."

JB didn't pick up on the fact that Hunter was not talking about Syd, but about _him_. Putting his magazine down, Hunter stared at JB as he walked around the lobby. There was definitely something _off_ about JB.

"These will allow you into most of the building's facilities," Syd said suddenly, reappearing in the lobby. In his right hand were two rectangular, laminated pieces of paper: the visitor passes.

"Sweet!" Exclaimed Hunter, readily forgetting his suspicions of JB. "So where does the tour start?"

"Follow me," Syd replied. He turned and motioned for the two visitors to follow him. He looked around at the decor, admiring it as if for the first time. He always marveled to himself how he'd made his way from his undergraduate studies, to being a co-founder of a start-up business, to the tech conglomerate Rebel Technology had become. Whenever he had the chance to show off his work he did so with great pride and tried to put on a "fresh pair of eyes" when giving what he affectionately termed " _the_ tour" to people. He loved imagining what others thought of his great work. Hiding a smile of satisfaction, he continued walking deeper into the building.

"While much of our tech is designed for Ranger use," He said suddenly, breaking the silence. "A substantial amount is also dedicated to civilian use. Most notably, vehicles."

 _This place sure is impressive..._ JB thought, looking around. _Makes me miss my lab... I hope everyone back home is okay..._

Entering a room far down one of the hallways, Syd walked a few feet in and turned to wait for his guests to situate themselves. The room was rather large, containing several motorcycles which seemed to be in the process of being built.

"Feel free to look around," He said, beaming with pride.

Hunter whistled as he made his way to the vehicles. "Sweet bikes... I used to race bikes when I could when I was younger. Mostly 'cause my friends owned a few and I always liked a challenge. Hehe..."

JB looked around, impressed. _Looks just like back at HQ. There are things here my research and development may even be interested in..._

As JB looked around, he kept darting his eyes back to Syd. He knew he had to be on guard at all times. He didn't know if this guy had any nefarious plans up his sleeves. After a few moments, he turned toward Syd and addressed him.

"So... does your company get along with whoever makes these morphers?" He asked, hoping to get some comment as a slip-up to ascertain Mr. Drew's real intentions.

While JB subtly interrogated Mr. Drew, Hunter continued looking around at the bikes in awe. "Hmm... these bikes could use a few tune-ups. Definitely not ready to be used..."

Syd shrugged at JB's question. "We don't actually know where these morphers originated from. So I must answer no."

 _How_ _odd_... JB thought. _If he's telling the truth, and no one knows where these morphers come from... then why does everyone use them!? Seems pretty naive..._

Continuing to look around, JB decided he needed to not draw suspicion to himself and act more like Hunter. Allowing his tech side to get the better of him, JB marveled at the equipment. "Everything here is amazing. Thank you very much for your hospitality, Mr. Drew. What else have you here: I am excited to see more."

"Most everything in this area is simply consumer equipment. What I wanted to show you is towards the back, past the door in the back of this room," Syd said. He was quite pleased he'd caused them to marvel at his lesser works and was excited to show them his _true_ masterpieces.

 _These are consumer products!? How advanced is this company!? _JB thought, amazed.

Hunter then voiced outloud JB's thoughts: "You're saying there's _more_ awesome stuff? Nice!"

Syd nodded happily before looking to JB, knowing the next bit of information would particularly please the mysterious gentleman. "Oh, I also gave my cousin Sydney a call while I was getting your passes. She might stop by."

JB was extremely grateful to know Syd was coming. _Finally, I will get some answers! Hopefully she'll be more helpful than Tommy was... Mentioning him, I wonder how Dylan and Leather Jacket are faring against "Green Dragon"..._

"Thank you very much for your hospitality. What a great experience this has been!" JB said as he looked at Hunter. "Well, I am excited to see what else you have. Lead on!"

"Then follow me," Syd said as he turned toward the door.

 _And now to show them my true nature... _Syd thought, smiling to himself. _This is going to be perfect..._

 _. . ._

"Blood Roar!" Sean yelled, Red Morphing Energy enveloping him.

"Just give up already!" Thomas cried out, a mix of arrogance and annoyance in his voice. "I've already proven you're only wasting your time! You _can't_ beat me!"

"We'll see about that..." Sean said confidently. At that, he outstretched his arms before him and caused a tidal wave, looking quite like blood, of Morphing Energy to flow from him out toward Green Dragon.

As the attack washed over him, Thomas began playing his Dragon Dagger again. The amount of Green Morphing Energy dancing around him intensified, more so than even Thomas himself had ever seen. The only person Thomas was as impressed with as himself was the instigator of the attack, Sean.

 _Amazing!_ Thomas declared. _I've never tapped into such power... And yet, this guy here is pushing me to my limits! Who is he!? How is he doing what he's doing!?_

As Sean focused, pouring every bit of power he had into the attack, Dylan watched in awe. _Well, I may not like the dude's attitude, but... I have to admit, I think I actually would get in his way and mess him up if I tried to help... unless..._

Taking a step back, Dylan once again pulled out his Teleportation Disk. He didn't think he ever had the potential to actually _win_ this fight, but that wasn't the point of this match. The point was to increase his _rank_. He was a relative nobody in the Fighting Circuit, but he knew deep inside that he had the _fighting spirit_. He knew that if he was able to "dance" with Green Dragon for long enough that his popularity would sky rocket, giving him the opportunity to fight others closer to his rank, to give him more opportunity to rack up wins under his belt... maybe one day gaining the experience enough to fight Green Dragon _for real_...

But as long as he was stuck in Sean's shadow, he wasn't going to get any notoriety. That was the tactic behind using his Teleportation Disk in an unorthodox manner. The more he did things which weren't in the norm of fighting, especially against the end all, be all greatest of all time... the more people would be curious about him. Sometimes just having people pay attention to you is all you need to become successful.

"Zip-dooyah!" Thomas cried out, erupting from his protective barrier of Green Morphing Energy. He dashed forward with amazing speed, slashing at the Blood Pride Ranger. Sean was impressive in his ability to keep up with Thomas Oliver, but... he wasn't _that_ good. Power level wise he may have even been _stronger_ than the Green Dragon, but Thomas' years of experience allowed him to know just how to lead Sean into the trap...

And there it was. Thomas faked a low kick with a simultaneous punch to the right side. As Blood Pride Ranger jumped up and threw out his arms to block the right side (from Thomas' perspective), Thomas had already begun his _true_ attack: He threw the Dragon Dagger out past Sean and launched his fist deep into Sean's ribs on the left. Being midair, Sean had no balance and fell to _his_ left side... _hard_. Doing a backflip, Thomas launched a ball of Green Morphing Energy at Sean whilst midair. A massive eruption came from Sean's location as the attack hit. And, just as planned, Blood Pride Ranger pulled himself up. He was obviously in _a lot_ of pain, but he was not going to give up yet.

"Return!" Thomas cried out.

It was too late for Sean. From wherever up in the sky the Dragon Dagger had gone, like a boomerang it sailed back toward Thomas. But, just as had been calculated by Dr. Oliver, Sean stood in between Dragon Dagger's trajectory between it and Thomas. The blade hit Sean in the back and exploded, sending Blood Pride Ranger sprawling onto his face.

"Time to finish this!" Thomas declared. "Met- oof!"

Before he could announce his attack, an anvil dropped onto him. Thomas' mind was in a frenzy. His vision was spinning and he couldn't find his footing, off-balance and confused. That's when Dylan pounced, sending wave after wave of punches at Thomas' shielded chest. Even with a massive concussion, Thomas was able to block over half of the hits... but it wasn't enough. Dylan charged up his fist and landed a mighty punch right to the center of the diamond on the Dragon Shield. Oliver went flying back, his path stopped only by the Morphing Energy charged ropes surrounding the arena.

The crowd went wild. This was far beyond anything Dylan could have hoped for.

"I... I took down the Green Dragon!? I- ah!"

From out of nowhere, the same anvil Dylan had teleported onto the scene hit him square in the back of the head. He could hear his helmet crack as the massive object hit, sending him flailing forward. Looking up in a daze, Dylan was half-surprised to see the assailant was his "teammate", Sean.

"No one... _no one_... will stop me from finishing my fight..." He said menacingly. "The Green Dragon is _my_ target. I must prove myself..."

"To who!? We're a _team!_ " Dylan protested, vision spinning. The more his vision spun, the more he could feel himself lose the ability to properly articulate his muddled thoughts. "Uh... I... what are you talking... ugh... why did you...!?"

Sean was confused himself. Why was he fighting again? Who was calling out to him? Where did this drive to defeat everyone before him even _come_ from?

 _Morgan..._

A voice, sounding from afar off, echoed in his mind. Who was Morgan? What did this Morgan person have to do with _him_?

"... It seems as if I have been barking up the wrong tree..." Sean said suddenly. "I... I have other matters to attend to..."

And, without further explanation, Sean leapt out of the ring and onto a nearby roof. In a split second he'd vanished, racing along the rooftops off into the distance.

"And there you have it! The first person to lose the match!" The Announcer was suddenly heard yelling, putting a spin on the events. "You saw it here first! Not even that powerful warrior, Sean the Blood Pride Ranger, could stand toe to toe with Green Dragon... and he had _help_! I feel bad for Dylan, The Ranger with No Name! He is certain to get _crushed_ now! I'd flee if I were you, kid!"

"No one... makes a fool of me..." Thomas said, his mind nearly back in place as his tap to the Morphing Grid worked in a frenzy to cure him of his concussion. He was fully aware of the _truth_ of the matter: Dylan had played the strategy game while Sean had fought him head on. He knew if Sean hadn't left that he would've lost to them both. He had let his arrogance get the better of him had left himself open for defeat, underestimating his opponents. And, for that realization, he was determined to _crush_ Dylan to heal his ego.

"I'm in trouble..." Dylan muttered, forcing his yet dazed self to stand. "Big, big trouble..."

"You betcha, _punk!_ " Green Dragon roared. "Metallic Armor!"

Suddenly sobering up completely, all Dylan could do was swallow hard as the Green Dragon charged forward...

. . .

"Naturally, your passes won't open this door. A matter of security." Syd said as he opened the door leading to the back lab.

The room, once inside, appeared to take up a majority of the building. Everything Rebel Tech did for Ranger teams, all right there. Lightspeed Rescue, SPD, RPM, Go-Buster, Kyuranger... basically any team with high tech equipment used some component from his company.

Hunter raced in, bolting past Syd and JB to the equipment. He stared at each of them intently, instantly match up the symbols on the equipment to their respective teams. "All these ranger teams... This is so awesome! I'm sure this has been asked but do you know anything about the Disks? Like, I know they are passed out to us to use for Ranger Circuit, but I mean... _how_ do they work? Where do they come from?"

Syd smiled slyly. _It's almost time..._

"Funny you should mention that actually..." He said, turning his back on them and heading slowly toward a desk nearby.

JB was curious to hear what Syd had to say. _So he doesn't make the Disks, but it appears as if he knows something... and he sure is acting even stranger now..._

JB watched intently as Mr. Drew moved about the lab. His muscles were tensed up, ready for anything.

"Well, we're all ears," Hunter said, though he too was beginning to feel uneasy.

Syd tapped on what looked to be a stapler. Suddenly, a wall lifted up revealing a doorway leading to a second, smaller lab. Sean motioned for the others to follow him. Reluctantly, they followed (with JB allowing Hunter to walk in front of him, in case he needed to escape quickly). Inside was the usual equipment one would expect in a lab: various computers and monitoring stuff. What was special, though, was at the center of the room. An Avatar Morpher and Technique Disk. But they had a slightly different design. They looked imperfect... incomplete.

JB didn't know what to say. He turned to Syd.

"Did your company... make this?"

"We are working on reverse engineering these morphers," Syd said, barely able to control his excitement. "There seem to be certain functions of them yet to be unlocked... but we're getting close!"

JB looked down at his morpher he had already tinkered with. "What sort of functions?"

"I trust you've discovered the primary flaw in the Disk system of the Avatar Morphers?" Mr. Drew asked, a sly smile appearing on his visage.

Hunter held up his morpher, eyeballing it just like JB was doing with his. "Primary flaw? Someone care to explain?"

JB was unsure about Syd's question, but grateful to now know the name of his morpher. "All I know is that I don't know anything about this tech. I morphed once and that was all."

Now beaming, Syd pointed at Hunter's morpher. "One Disk slot. Only one active power. No more, though. We've found a way to fix that."

JB looked at his morpher. "You mean, like... stacking the powers on top of each other? Like... compounding the abilities in the Disks?"

"In a way. We've found a way to permanently fuse the contents of a Disk to the morpher, freeing up the slot for another, new Disk. Theoretically, you could compound them as much as you are able. Upmorph the info from the Disk into the morpher, put that Disk to the side, and now you're able to have that power as a permanent fixture of your base morph, adding onto it the enhancements from a Disk from time to time!"

JB's scientific mind was racing. He wasn't very familiar with the Ranger Circuit, but from what he'd seen he'd been able to see the Disks granted a temporary upgrade to the suit. Like how Hunter went from his base form to become the Wolf Ranger from Jungle Fury by using a Ranger Key given to him via a Technique Disk. If that was the capability of all of the Avatar Morphers, then what Mr. Drew was proposing would be monumental indeed. One question presented itself from Syd's revelation, though...

"But... it's permanent?" JB found himself asking.

"Correct," Syd answered, impressed with JB's connection.

JB, meanwhile, still had his suspicions. Pointing to Hunter, he looked at Syd and asked: "Please forgive me if I am being ungrateful, but... why us? This seems very high tech and still new... why are you letting _us_ in on this?"

"Like I said, we are still working on this tech. It's not ready yet. If you tried to use it now you would likely damage your morphers beyond repair. That is where the two of you come in... With only my morpher I cannot collect enough data. I want the two of you to collect more data for me. Help us get this out to market."

"How?" JB asked, suddenly realizing the reason behind Syd's secretive behavior. Nothing nefarious, just a proud inventor protective of his newest device. At least, that's what JB hoped.

"Simple." Syd replied, holding up a pair of small Black Boxes. "Just attach these to your morphers, they take care of the rest."

JB was suddenly unsure again. Mr. Drew _seemed_ sincere. He had already helped him by contacting Sydney.

 _Or did he? Was it a ruse to get me to comply?_ JB shifted his weight onto one leg. _But, I'm already deep into his lab. What if I don't play along? If he's a baddie, I'm too deep in enemy territory with a morpher I'm not too sure how to use to protect myself..._

He looked at Syd, nodding. "I will do it."

"Thank you. This will be a big help to all of us in the long run," Syd replied, gratitude oozing out from him.

JB took a black box and carefully strapped it to his morpher before looking at Syd and winking. "I guess this makes you my mentor?"

"Mentor? Alright then... well in addition to that, we've also been working on adapting our field transport systems to work with the Avatar Morphers. Right now the range is limited to a few feet, though."

"Well, I will get to cracking on collecting data for you, then. I guess the Green Dragon is as good as any place to start..." JB said as he looked down at the morpher, then out the window. "Thank you for your help. I... guess I will be heading out."

He started toward the door with the new technology. _It is a shame I didn't get to see Syd, though. But it might be best if I got out of here as soon as possible to tinker with this box and see if it's just a new GPS device._

Syd was about to say something to JB as Hunter continued to eye the black box, but stopped when he had to answer a call from his cellphone. After a moment, JB heard him saying:

"Really?... That was quick... Alright, just ask her to stay in the lobby for a minute."

JB looked over to see Syd talking. He also looked at Hunter, who seemed to still be considering the offer.

 _Odd. I thought he would have jumped to an opportunity like this. I guess you should not judge someone by their looks..._

JB looked again at Syd before heading back toward the door. Syd hung up as JB was almost out of the inner lab. He took a few steps forward and called out to him.

"JB? It seems you have a visitor."

JB stopped and turned back to face Mr. Drew. "Is it her? Is Sydney here? Where can I meet her!?"

"Main lobby. Where you guys waited for me to grab your passes? I'll be there in a minute if you want to go ahead," Syd said, happy that he'd been able to deliver on his promise to help JB.

JB nodded and bolted out the door, more quickly than Syd had surmised JB would. He was surprised at how much JB wanted to meet his cousin. He knew of fanboys and had been afraid upfront that JB was some sort of over-obsessed person, but something about him didn't say that was the case.

 _He is an odd one, though..._ As he thought about JB, he quickly closed up the path to the inner lab and ushered Hunter off.

"So... you aren't going to help with the project?" Syd asked as they walked down together to the lobby.

Hunter shrugged. "I'm... I'm kinda afraid about it messing with my morpher, ya' know?"

Syd chuckled. "The black box won't do that. It's only gathering data so I can finish the actual morpher tech. Two different things."

"I don't know..." Hunter replied hesitantly.

"Well, the offer is on the table if you change your mind," Syd said, a hint of disappointment in his voice. "Now, let's find JB and my cousin. I'm very curious to know why JB wants to meet her so badly..."

 _. . ._

Sydney Drew, SPD Ranger, looked around. _Old Syddie sure has done well here! I'm proud of the squirt!_

As she wondered when this "mystery guy" Mr. Drew had told her about was supposed to show up, she continued to look around at everything around her. As an officer studying to become a detective, it was in her nature to be curious and over analyze everything around her. With her thoughts trying to piece together the oddity of the situation, a smile found itself spreading on her face.

 _Is he setting me up with someone?_ She thought, feeling giddy. _He'd better be cute!_

Suddenly, a man burst around the corner into the lobby. He was wearing what appeared to be a mechanic's jumpsuit and had messy, brown hair. He saw her and promptly started jogging over.

"Eh... I have seen worse." She said with a shrug, adjusting her SPD uniform and waiting for the disheveled young man to make his way to her.

The man, who was in fact JB, saw Sydney and a wave of relief hit him. He would recognize her blonde hair anywhere. Smiling as he made his way to her, he noticed her outfit.

 _She's wearing pink, huh?_ He thought, amused. _Going retro, I guess..._

As he approached her, JB realized something didn't look quite right. By the time he got to her, his gut felt like someone had run it through a cotton candy machine. He paused as he got in front of her, looking around as if to find someone watching him.

"What is this!? Some kind of joke!?" He suddenly yelled out as if to the building itself, shocking Sydney.

Sydney looked around, slightly afraid of the situation. She then feared for the worst... She tensed up, not sure what was happening.

"Where's my cousin!? Where's Syd!? Who are you!?" She yelled as she saw another young man enter the lobby. It was Hunter, though she did not know him. Getting into a fighting stance, she narrowed her sights on Hunter. "You gonna help me here? This guy's crazy!"

Before Hunter could reply, JB got into his fighting stance as well. _This is all wrong! All wrong!_

"Who are you!?" JB demanded as glared at the woman before him.

Hunter stood in place, frozen in confusion. At that moment, Mr. Drew made his way into the lobby. He, too, froze when he saw his cousin squaring off with JB.

Now irritated, Syndey stared at JB in the eyes. "Syd Drew. SPD Pink Ranger. Now, are you gonna calm down or am I going to have to arrest you for... I dunno...?"

She flipped her hair back as she thought of some reason to arrest JB. It had been many, many years since an actual arrest had been warranted on Toku and Sydney was racking her brain to remember what the proper protocol for an aggressive individual was.

She shrugged. "Uh... public insanity?"

Taking a deep breath, Mr. Drew stepped forward with his hands stretched out before him. "JB... What are you doing? Sorry Sydney, he wasn't like this a minute ago."

Snapping out of his stupor, Hunter followed behind Mr. Drew. "Um, okay... First of all, hello! My name's Hunter! Second of all... this guy's my friend. His name is JB and... um... I'm sure we can figure out what's going on here, right? No need for a... yuck... _arrest_..."

Meanwhile, JB's mind was racing as if in a frenzy. He stared at "Sydney".

 _She acts the same, but..._

JB then turned his attention to Mr. Drew. It _had_ to be him causing all of this. What was "all of this", though? Some sort of game? Illusion? A bitter look formed on JB's face as he stared at Mr. Drew.

"I trusted you..." He said, taking a step back from the two Syds to head toward Hunter. "Thanks, Hunter. Do you have my back? Something funky is going on here!"

"What?" Mr. Drew asked incredulously. "What... what are you talking about!?"

Hunter, in the meantime, nodded and patted JB on the back. "Anytime man! I also felt something was going on here... thought I still don't know _what_..."

Seeing Hunter take JB's side, Sydney rolled her eyes and shook her head in irritation. Grabbing her morpher, she got into her officer's stance.

"SPD: Emergency!" She called out as she became the Pink SPD Ranger.

Mr. Drew stared at her in shock as she turned to him. "What are you doing, Syd!? This is my place of business!"

"You with me, Syddie?" SPD Pink asked, placing her hands on her hips.

"Everyone... please! Just... calm down!" Mr. Drew implored. "I'm sure we can work this out without resorting to... anything _drastic_!"

"Little late for that!" Hunter cried out as he got out his morpher. "It's morphin' time!"

As Hunter became the ArcRanger, JB found himself already touching his own morpher. He stared at the person in front of him who _couldn't_ have been the person she said she was... It was impossible! Sighing and shaking his head, JB stared at the two members of the Drew family.

"I should have stayed at the match..." JB groaned. "Zenith: Ascension!"


	5. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

JB paused, half expecting to have another vicious seizure caused by his morph. Looking down, though, he realized he was once again in his crimson colored suit. Realizing his morpher to be stable, he got into a fighting stance.

 _Let's see if I remember my_ _training_... He thought.

"...guess there's no other option..." Mr. Drew lamented. "But you are _not_ doing this in my lobby. We take it outside."

SPD Pink nodded as JB and Hunter and sprinted out the lobby. She began running as quickly as she could after both of them. Realizing she was quickly gaining on them, Zenith Ranger spun around and leapt forward, aiming to plant his feet square on her chest.

As JB jumped, Hunter got himself into a fighting stance, waiting to do a sneak attack after JB was finished with his. "I never hit girls but time to make an exception!"

Sydney paused as she saw the attack before putting her hand to her mouth and laughing. Zenith Ranger's trajectory was completely off, and his body positioning was completely awful.

"You must be a rookie!"

She easily sidestepped his poor attempt at an attack. As JB landed behind her, barely keeping his balance to not have fallen flat onto his face, SPD Pink nonchalantly elbowed him in the back without turning to face him.

As this happened, Mr. Drew finally made his way outside. "Let's get this over with so we can get some answers... Huh!?"

Sparks began flying wildly from Zenith Ranger's suit. JB could be heard screaming in pain, clutching his left arm as he fell to his knees. With one final burst of excess Morphing Energy, JB demorphed and fell to a heap, unconscious.

"How hard did you hit him!?" Mr. Drew demanded, running up to his cousin.

"I just tapped him! I swear!" Insisted Sydney. "I am going to get someone from Lightspeed or Dekaranger over here _pronto_. Pull him inside... Oh, and be careful with the one in Black and Red: he looks like he is itching for a fight."

Mr. Drew looked over at Hunter, who was yet in a fighting stance but standing as if in a stupor, as his cousin turned and sprinted off while speaking in her helmet situated communicator. Sighing heavily and shaking his head, Mr. Drew decided to address Hunter.

"Any of this making sense to you? Because I'm lost."

Letting his shoulders slump, Hunter demorphed and shook his head. "Not really... um... What's going on with him? That doesn't happen when _I_ morph."

"I have no idea," Mr. Drew replied truthfully. "Could you please not attack me and help me take him into the lobby?"

Nodding, Hunter made his way to JB and grabbed him by the ankles. Holding onto his shoulders, Mr. Drew directed Hunter until they were in the lobby, setting JB down on a couch.

 _Good thing we're closed today for The Dragon's impromptu tournament..._ Mr. Drew thought. _Ugh... all I wanted to do was have some fun today... what a terrible twist this has become..._

"Isn't there, like, a machine that can maybe analyze his morpher?" Hunter asked, breaking Mr. Drew's chain of thought. "Maybe it's defective or something?"

"Yeah, I'll go take a look at it." Mr. Drew answered. "You make sure he doesn't leave if he wakes up, got it? Please... this guy is obviously sick in the head. Don't trust him and run off again, got it?"

As Mr. Drew unclipped JB's morpher, Hunter nodded. "Alright... and I am very sorry. There was just a weirdness to everything today... I really thought JB was onto something..."

Mr. Drew sighed as he began to walk away. "You're right... there _is_ something weird. Hopefully I can get to the bottom of it."

Looking over at the unconscious JB, Hunter pursed his lips and furrowed his brow. "What could've caused his morpher to do this...?"

. . .

 _JB found himself back at his base. He looked around in shock._

 _What!? I'm... I'm back!?_

 _Flashes of blue and white armor were seared into his vision. He swallowed hard._

 _I have to save everyone!_ _JB thought._

 _JB made his way to the Entry. He was shocked by what he saw upon entering: the terminal was smashed._

 _"I'll need to fix it..." JB said to himself. As he bent over, he could hear explosions occurring back in the main command center. Sweat poured down his face as he attempted to connect some wires in the hope of activating the machine._

 _JB clenched his jaw. He had what appeared to be the final wires in his hands..._

Hunter watched him in his sleep, JB stirring while memories floated in his mind. It had been nearly a half hour, yet for some reason Hunter was uncharacteristically calm and settled. Something about all of this...

"Well, I have an answer!" Mr. Drew suddenly said, making his way back to the lobby.

"What's the diagnosis, doc?" Hunter asked, stretching as he stood up from his lobby seat.

"This _genius_ here decided to take it upon himself to modify his morpher. So it's feeding back on him. _That's_ the problem." Mr. Drew said, tossing the device on an ottoman nearby.

Hunter nodded. "Hunh... but is that the reason he's so... uh... psychotic?"

Before Mr. Drew could answer, he felt his phone vibrating. Putting up a finger to indicate he needed a moment, he pulled the phone out and let out a sigh of relief to see it was his cousin's number.

"Hey, Syd. Where's Lightspeed?"

"This situation is bothering me a bit more, so I decided to go a different route. An ambulance is on its way, but when it comes to rangers I actually have Detective Utahime heading down there. How are things right now?"

"He's still out cold, but I did figure out what took him out," Reported Mr. Drew.

Sydney laughed over the phone. "So it _wasn't_ my amazing super strength?"

"No," Mr. Drew said in his logical tone, not having understood her joking manner. "This idiot made some modifications to his morpher. They clearly don't work."

Sydney grunted. "I don't get paid enough for this... Okay, do you still need Utahime to check things out? I can't go: I am swamped with paperwork to do for your maniac's incident."

"Sorry Sydney... I didn't know he had any problems like that," Mr. Drew said, shoulders slumping. "I'll make it up to you, I promise. And no, Utahime isn't needed."

At that, Sydney wished her cousin well and hung up. Sighing heavily, she dialed the extension to DekaGold's cellular to cancel the visit.

. . .

After a few minutes of Hunter and Mr. Drew chatting idly, getting to know each other, they were both shocked to see JB beginning to awaken.

Putting on a stern face, Mr. Drew hovered over the guest come intruder. "Alright, you've got some explaining to do."

JB shook his head in disbelief, trying to get himself back to reality. " _Me_? _You're_ the one playing mind games with _me_."

JB placed his hand to his head as if that would stop the headache plaguing him. He was feeling rather distressed, and the current situation wasn't helping.

"I have absolutely no clue what you're talking about," Mr. Drew said matter of factly.

"Dude, you went off the deep end and almost took me with you," Hunter interjected. "You owe us _answers_."

"Oh, I owe you guys _nothing_. I'm _sure_ you know what's going on..." JB said as stood up slowly.

"Hey... no funny business guy..." Mr. Drew warned, tensing up.

"Zenith: Ascension!" JB cried out, fire in his eyes.

Nothing happened.

"Uh, dude? Syd took your morpher. No morpher equals no Zenith Ranger," Hunter stated, leaning up against the nearest wall. "Now why did you mod your morpher if you couldn't even do it right?"

JB slumped down, feeling the weight of the world fall on his shoulders.

"It's over. Whoever you are and whatever you have done with... everyone... well, you've won. Do with me what you will. No more need for games. I can't fight you anymore."

Furrowing his brow again, Hunter looked at Syd. "I think you that mod messed with his head..."

"Look, I don't know what's gotten into you," Mr. Drew said. "But you attacked my family. I deserve an explanation."

"Heh... family..." JB stated. "I think Syd would've mentioned you to me before. Please... just... stop messing with my head and finish it."

"You are acting and talking crazy," Hunter said, shaking his head. "If Captain Marvelous were here he'd slap you senseless."

"Captain _Who_?" JB asked, confused.

"JB, enough," Mr. Drew ordered. "I have absolutely no clue what you are talking about, honestly. So I need some answers."

"Fine, I will play along," JB replied angrily. "What do you want, 'Syd'?"

"I want you to tell me what you think I'm up to."

JB shrugged. "Brain washing people? Or whoever you're working for is doing the brain washing... something like that..."

"And why do you think that?" Mr. Drew asked, looking at Hunter.

"Well, Tommy Oliver just wants to fight now. Syd Drew is... _completely_ different... There are rangers running around every which way you turn... I dunno what else to say!"

"That's... the way life has always been here on Toku..." Mr. Drew replied. "What's _different_ about that? Different than _what_?"

"Uh, JB?" Hunter said. "I'm _one_ of those guys running around... and you are, too. Remember? Look... Syd might've seemed shady to us at first but he's actually a decent guy."

"Wait, what?" Mr. Drew said, looking at Hunter in surprise. " _Me?_ You thought _I_ was the shady one? Huh?"

JB stared at the two of them. There was something... _genuine_ about how they were talking. Suddenly, JB was seeing them in a completely different light.

JB looked at Hunter, pleading to him in his eyes. "You seem to be one of the victims. Help me get out of here: please!"

"Get out why? We're here to _help_ you," Mr. Drew said, beginning to feel sorry for the man before him.

JB looked at Syd and sighed, hanging his head down low. "Then they got to you, too."

"What are you talking about? Who is _they_?" Mr. Drew insisted.

"JB, that morpher's got you screwed up," Hunter added. "This has always been the way things worked in Toku. I think that morpher's scrambled your brains and I mean _well done_."

"That's entirely possible." Mr. Drew agreed, nodding. "You really shouldn't have modified your morpher like that."

JB looked at them. "Did you guys know someone is using the morphers to track our movements?"

Mr. Drew shrugged. "All tech based morphers include GPS. It's standard tech."

"...Who wants to track us?" JB asked.

"No clue. I didn't make the morphers. But if you're so paranoid about it, why do you use one?" Mr. Drew asked, folding his arms across his chest.

"Because my friends need my help!" JB found himself blurting out.

"Friends?" Mr. Drew asked, cocking up an eyebrow.

"Who needs your help?" Hunter asked, pealing himself from off the wall.

"It's my ranger team..." JB said, shaking his head as he spoke. "They were under attack... Being captured..."

"Huh? How? _Who_ would attack a team of rangers?" Mr. Drew asked. "That doesn't make any sense. I mean... _Why?"_

JB thought about all the odd behavior he had seen recently. Was he the one going mad? Had he just been wandering around in that forest and slipped and hit his head? Was that morpher in fact his and he was battling through a bout of amnesia? Nothing else was making sense to him...

"You know what? Maybe you guys are right. Maybe the morpher just... messed with me," JB conceded. "I am sure you guys have better things to do with your lives. Just... forget about it."

"Let's just see how Tommy's tournament is going," Mr. Drew agreed. "I don't want to miss our call."

JB stood up and pointed to the ottoman near him and the device on it. "May I have my morpher back?"

Syd nodded and handed it to him. "I made a slight tweak that should keep the Morphing Energy from feeding back on you. It should just disperse into the open air now as it should."

"Well JB, we need to get going! Tommy isn't gonna fight himself!" Hunter said excitedly, rushing out of the lobby.

 _Huh!?_ JB thought. _Just... just like that!? They're willing to forgive and forget!? No... this is all too weird. What the heck is going on!? Is everyone on this planet really that naive!? There really isn't any evil!?_

Seeing the distress on JB's face as they walked, Mr. Drew placed a hand on JB's shoulder. "What's wrong? Still disoriented because of your morpher? I'm sorry... messing with the Grid like that can really disturb the mind, I suppose... It's actually good to know for my research!"

"Just like that?" JB found himself vocalizing his thoughts. "You trust me again, just like that!?"

"It's not so much trust, JB. More like I've seen your skill level, so if you do turn on me I know you won't be a problem," Mr. Drew said, smirking and elbowing JB in the ribs.

Overhearing, Hunter nodded. "Well, the morpher's been fixed and tweaked so there's no reason to _not_ trust you. Your mind should get back to normal soon... I hope... and to echo Syd's point? He and I would take you down if you did stay crazy."

JB looked at them. "Thanks..."

 _There is no way that match is still going on... right?_ He thought.

. . .

"Why... why won't you just _give up_!?" Thomas yelled from his corner of the ring.

They'd reach the rare intermission point of the match. Professional, high caliber matches rarely ever got that far. With the more powerful rangers, it didn't take much for fights to end before the intermission mark since rangers typically had powered up attacks strong enough to take on any of their competition, sprinkled in with good tactics.

Seeing as Dylan wasn't one of those "powerful rangers", he was just doing the best he could with his Teleportation Disk to stay at arm's length from the Metallic Armored Green Ranger. Every time Dr. Oliver got close, Dylan would either teleport himself to the other side of the ring, or teleport in something like a metal wall or some other similar type of barricade to buy himself time.

"You're my hero, Ranger with No Name!" Someone shouted from the crowd.

"Ranger with No Name! Ranger with No Name!" The crowd started chanting.

 _Wow... this is actually happening! And that name is sticking... I like it!_ Dylan thought excitedly. _This is gonna be huge for my ranking! I was gonna throw in the towel soon. I mean, there is no way I can beat this guy, but... with how much people are chanting for me... it may negatively impact my ranking..._

Meanwhile, in Dr. Oliver's corner, the Announcer made his way to The Green Dragon. He leaned in carefully, whispering.

"The first fight was supposed to be good... but not the main attraction! How am I gonna sell tickets to a fight for the championship match like this!? No one will believe you're up to snuff after this, let alone that another match will rival this one... you're ruining me, Oliver!"

The Metallic Green Ranger turned and stared at the Announcer. In that moment, it felt as if the world had stopped. The Announcer couldn't even hear the roar of the crowd anymore. Although he couldn't see Oliver's eyes, he could _feel_ the anger coming from the veteran fighter. Even then, not being able to see Oliver's eyes made the Green Ranger seem even more threatening, with that emotionless visor reflecting nothing but the Announcer's own scared visage.

"Do _not_ speak that way to me," Green Ranger said simply. "The tactics this guy is using are... _unorthodox_. No matter... I will make sure that after this intermission that he _will_ fall. Listen... listen to the crowd. They chant _his_ name over mine? No... _I_ am the people's hero. Always have been, always will be. This... _Ranger with No Name_ character is going to rue the day he ever dreamed that he could take me on!"

*DING*

Putting the microphone up to his mouth without breaking eye contact, out of Fear, The Announcer started to speak:

"This is it, ladies and gentlemen! Lay witness to this next miraculous part of the bout! Watch as this... _upstart_ ranger meets his day of reckoning against the Green Ranger!"

The Ranger with No Name stared as massive amounts of Green Morphing Energy begin to whip around Thomas Oliver. Within moments, they had transformed into one massive beast: a mighty Dragon. It roared, massive green flames erupting from its mouth.

"That... that's impossible..." The Ranger with No Name gasped. "How are you doing that!?"

"With enough Willpower, _anything_ is possible!" Metallic Green Ranger declared, throwing both hands up into the air. "And what is it I Will? To _crush_ you! Yaaah!"

 _Well... it was good while it lasted..._ Dylan thought as he watched the Green Morphing Dragon fly forward and open up its mouth, shutting it around Dylan and engulfing him in a massive tidal wave of Green Morphing Energy...


	6. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

"I expect you to personally apologize to Sydney for the trouble you caused her." Mr. Drew stated matter of factly. He didn't seem angry, which seemed to be his _de facto_ state of being. He cared for his cousin and, after the events which had transpired, he sincerely wanted to ensure she was taken care of.

JB blushed and said nothing as they made their way back to the plaza. He knew he would have to face Sydney Drew again, or whoever this person was, and... if she was who she claimed she was he would have to explain to someone who he considered a friend why he had behaved the way he had.

The answer to which did not exist... Not yet, anyway. But he was determined to find out what _exactly_ was happening. Was he wrong? Or was everyone else? His mind was consumed with such thoughts.

 _Whoever caused the initial attack on our base... they must be immensely powerful to cause all of..._ _this_ _..._

JB looked at his companions. He realized that they could have destroyed him while he was knocked out earlier, but they _helped him_ instead. He reasoned that they must have been victims of the same force that attacked his base. Unaware of what was going on, being manipulated by some unknown, sinister force.

He clenched his fist. _I'll save you guys... I will save everyone..._

 _. . ._

Sydney Drew sat at her desk in the SPD Headquarters. Something about that guy from her cousin's company was off. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, though...

Nodding slightly to herself, she sat up straight and began looking through her computer. She went through her databanks, scanning the software Dr. Manx had created for JB's face from the footage Rebel Tech's surveillance system had picked up.

The Pink SPD Ranger sighed before standing up as the computer loaded the information. When she heard it ding, indicating it had finished, placed her hands on her hips and stared at the monitor. The computer generated a folder for the past day's worth of activities. Sydney groaned.

"Computer: I want everything, not just one day!"

"This is everything," The computer replied.

She nodded. "Okay, so you just arrived on the continent, huh, crazy guy..."

She grabbed her phone and dialed the number for the Go-Busters.

"Hey, this is Agent Drew. I need you to run a global scan for me... hey, you owe me, so don't give me sass!" She giggled as the agent on the other line joked back.

Exchanging a few more pleasantries, she hung up the call. After clicking a few times and typing up a short message, she sent the Go-Busters' HQ the man's facial scans and sat at her desk.

"Okay, JB. Now, we wait..."

 _. . ._

JB had been progressively walking slower than the others. As the group turned a corner, they found themselves in a crowd of people, all heading to The Green Dragon's fight.

JB felt a stab of guilt. He felt these men meant him no harm, and he felt bad for not being able to repay them.

Not yet, at least. Don't worry guys, He thought as he slowly started allowing the crowd to separate him from the other rangers. I

will find out what is going on and I will get us all out of this. Farewell for now... JB thought these things as he slipped into the crowd.

He touched the pouch which housed his team's insignia. I'm coming, guys.

After a few moments, nearly at the ringside, Hunter noticed JB was missing. He tried speaking to Mr. Drew, but the deafening roars from the crowd made it so that his voice was lost. Groaning to himself (which thing he, himself, could not hear), he leaned forward and grabbed Mr. Drew's shoulder. Before Mr. Drew could object, Hunter used his shoulder to pull himself closer to him to speak directly into his ear.

"Where did JB wander off to? Do you get the feeling there's more to that guy than meets the eye? _"_

Mr. Drew, quite irritated by that point and almost beyond caring about anything related to JB, shrugged. "Not sure... but crazy how this match is still going, right? This ranger fighting Green Dragon must be amazing!"

From the top of a building, a morphed JB looked on as he saw The Ranger with No Name take another brutal hit from Green Dragon. He was impressed with Dylan's tenacity. He could take a punch... but why?

 _Why do they do these tournaments? What is their end game?_

JB (as the Zenith Ranger) spied his former companions as they watched the fight while standing in the plaza area. He felt badly for everyone there, for he was now more confident than ever that whatever happened to him when the conduit exploded in The Entry, it had shielded him from what had obviously affected everyone else. They were all sheep, trapped in some illusion...

 _I will fight Tommy as a message to those who have done this to all of these good people._ He thought. _If I can stand in the ring long enough, maybe I can get him to snap out of it and listen to me..._

Zenith Ranger clenched his fist, raising it in front of his visor. "They will pay..."

A mysterious voice, whose pitch sounded almost purposefully distorted, was suddenly heard over Zenith Ranger's suit intercom. "Who will pay, young ranger? If you dig too deep you may not find the answers you were hoping for. This world is not what you think it is..."

Zenith's lips sneered under the grill of his visor. He didn't know how, but somehow someone was listening in on him and able to communicate directly with him. His heart was racing at a million beats per second, but he couldn't show that. He now knew someone was watching him.

 _Just keep your cool, man..._ JB thought as he took a knee, peering down on the crowd. He hoped his lack of an outward reaction would help him look more confident. If he had just heard the voice of the mastermind behind all of this, he didn't want to blow his chances at learning about this person with a bad move early on. Needless to say, though... he was terrified out of his mind.

"Toku is. It has always been." The voice continued.

JB smiled behind his visor. _I don't believe it worked. I... I have this person_ _monologuing!_

"What you see around you _is_ the truth. There is nothing more to figure out, I'm afraid."

JB wanted to reply to what he _knew_ had to be a lie. Memories of the previous day flooded his brain. They were so vivid... it _couldn't_ have been a trick. _That_ was real and _this_ was the lie. Almost as if a movie were playing, he could see what had transpired less than twenty-four hours earlier...

 _Screaming was heard, echoing in the hallway. Acting as confidently as he could, JB approached the broken terminal..._

Zenith shook his head, as if to shake away the memory. He continued to stare into the plaza, awaiting the end of the hotly contested match.

Meanwhile, down in the plaza, Hunter turned to Mr. Drew. "I wonder what happened to that other guy... I'll say, if he was still here and they worked together against Green Dragon, they might have just had a chance."

Mr. Drew seemed to brighten up at that. "Well, with me and you both signed up, we might end up teamed against him. We'll have to remember your strategy!"

In the ring, Dylan was floating in the air. He was surprised he had made it as long as he had. At the onset of the Green Morphing Dragon's appearance in the battle, Dylan had teleported into the ring an experimental piece of battle equipment a friend of his had been experimenting on. It looked to be a massive, steel-colored sphere. It had no entrance, for it didn't need one: Dylan would (and did) teleport himself into it. It was coated with a powerful material supposedly called Nth metal, a curious metallic substance of which not much was known about.

Harlen, Dylan's friend who worked with Lightspeed Rescue, was certain the material was strong enough to go up against a massive amount of Morphing Energy. He had made Dylan swear to not use it unless _absolutely_ necessary, for it was yet a prototype and Harlen wanted to ensure it stayed a secret unless it could be helped.

 _Well, I guess this giant Dragon made out of Dr. Oliver's Power Coin is "necessary" enough..._ Dylan had thought at the time of summoning it.

At the present time, Dylan was being thrown about by the Dragon in an almost comical manner had it not been deathly terrifying for him. Harlen had not yet finished the weapon, which was unfortunate. It was supposed to be able to harness the Morphing Energy in the user's suit and channel it into attacks. All it was doing at the time, to Dylan's dismay, was heat up a bit and send a mild attack that, if it even hit, would sting the Dragon for a moment.

"Give up!" Dr. Oliver's voice was heard screaming from the Dragon's mouth. "You think this is fighting!? That I'm impressed with your abilities!? You're simply hiding inside of a ball! I will keep tearing at it until I reach you!"

The Announcer sighed, wishing it would end soon. He wanted, with all of his heart, to end the match but the rules forbade it. Dylan was _technically_ not stalling, since every so often the sphere in which he was trapped would shoot out attacks, even though they were pathetic and would probably not even hurt a civilian with no powers.

 _What a fiasco..._ The Announcer thought, shaking his head in despair.

And then it happened. One of the Green Morphing Dragon's claws break through the Nth Metal. Just the tip, but it was the first sign of the end for Dylan. He knew that once out, he stood literally no chance against Green Morphing Dragon.

 _Well... I did the best I could... Heh... Stupid... I actually had a thought for a moment I could win this! Tire him out! It's all over but the pain..._

Seeing the tiny hole was enough for Dr. Oliver. Charging up, he caused the Green Morphing Dragon to exhale a massive flame of Morphing Energy directly at the small hole. It flew into the hole and filled the sphere up.

"And _that_ ends this match..." Dr. Oliver stated proudly, dropping the sphere to the ring floor with a massive thud. He then recalled the Green Morphing Dragon back into his conduit to the Morphing Grid, getting into a fighting stance as he gently landed on his feet.

 _. . ._

Sydney Drew, Pink SPD Ranger, finally received the phone call she'd been waiting for. The Go-Buster on the other line told her he'd _just_ finished doing the facial recognition on a global scale. He told her the information she would be getting would be very interesting.

"It's your case, though. I'm not gonna do anything about it. I'm leaving it up to you."

"Thanks, Jin. I appreciate the discretion."

He laughed. "Let's just say we're even."

They joked a bit more before she ended the call. She then went to her computer and logged onto her e-mail account. She found the message from The Go-Busters and opened the attachment.

Her eyes widened as she watched the monitor. The information Jin had discovered about JB was _nothing_ like she could have imagined.

"This is big..."

Fearing for her cousin, she dialed his number into her phone as quickly as she could.

No answer.

"He must be at that dumb fight," She thought out loud before leaving a message on his voicemail.

 _I need to get to the bottom of this... before that maniac does anything else!_

 _. . ._

Mr. Drew watched in awe as the Green Morphing Dragon filled the Nth Metal Sphere with pure, Green Morphing Energy. _Ouch! Even with his suit, he'll probably need medical attention... Man, no one should ever mess with The Green Dragon!_

As he watched Dr. Thomas Oliver call back his most impressive feat yet as a ranger back to the Morphing Grid from whence it came, Mr. Drew felt the last vibration from his phone.

"Drat... missed a call..." He muttered over the roars of the crowd. Slipping an earpiece into place, he listened to hear his cousin's voicemail:

"Syddie. This is Syd. You know that guy from your office? He isn't who he says he is. You need to stay away from him at all costs!"

"Oh great..." Mr. Drew moaned. "What trouble is he causing now...?"

High above the plaza on his rooftop, Zenith Ranger stared down at the tail end of the fight in awe. He also snickered a bit, for he saw what most others had not seen.

"Well, Tommy's in for a rude surprise in a moment!" He mused outloud.

"And so are you!" He heard someone declare from behind him. JB turned slowly to face his visitor.

"Do we have a problem, officer?" He asked, surprised to hear how annoyed he sounded. Perhaps he was beyond being able to be shocked with the mess he found himself in. Or maybe it was because he was so familiar with the person who stood before him... probably a combination of both, he thought to himself.

Sydney placed a hand on her hip. "I know what your deal is... I'm taking you in for _questioning._ "

Zenith Ranger shook his head, stifling the Fear he was suddenly feeling. The Sydney he knew was a _much_ better fighter than he could have ever dreamed of being. The woman who stood before him... he had no idea. She was younger, and therefore probably quicker... but was she as experienced? Probably not. Did it matter...? JB had no way of knowing, and he had no intention of finding out.

"I don't think so. You see..." He began pacing in a straight line, looking at the floor under his feet as he did. "If you knew what my 'deal' was, then there are two reasons you are here. Either one, you are here to help me or two, you are here because you are corrupted. Which is it?"

JB found himself shocked at the amount of confidence he was projecting. Deep at his core, he was scared to death.

Sydney scoffed. "I am on the side of Toku justice. SPD: _Emergency_!"

Suddenly, the pink officer of the law stood before him.

"Okay, if that is the way you want it. You are a part of a system I am here to destroy. I don't want to hurt you, but I need to do _something_ to put an end to this and... I can't have anyone stop me!"

SPD Pink laughed again. "Don't you remember? I handled you fairly well last time..."

Zenith nodded, remembering the simple elbow to his back that caused a discharge of Morphing Energy. "My morpher is fixed now. So, let's see how _this_ fight turns out..."

 _What are you saying!? You're not a trained fighter! She'll destroy you!_ JB thought, swallowing hard as he did.

They both assumed their fighting stances.

Back in the ring, Dr. Oliver was surprised as the crowd suddenly went silent. Why were they not celebrating his hard fought victory?

"Missed me..." Dylan said simply, folding his arms and leaning against on of the ring pillars keeping the ropes up.

"What!?" The Green Dragon Ranger gasped. "But how!? That's impossible!"

Dylan shrugged. "Teleportation Disk, bro. I slipped out."

"No! This ends now!" Green Ranger proclaimed as he was yet again engulfed in Green Morphing Energy. "I- huh?"

 _I think I just wet myself..._ Dylan thought, knowing he had no other thing to defend himself.

The silence was deafening. Everyone, including The Announcer and The Ranger with No Name (Dylan), stared as Dr. Thomas Oliver stood in silence. With his helmet on, it was a surreal sight. Was he staring at Dylan? At someone in the crowd behind him? Why was he so quiet? His head then slowly turned to look up to a nearby roof top.

"Do you not feel it?" He asked everyone and no one all at once. "That... rise in power? It's so... foreign... There's something wrong here. The Morphing Grid is not balanced..."

Dylan was confused. Seeing an opportunity to get some more reputation with the people, he found himself almost robotically beginning to address Green Dragon in such a manner that, if he hadn't been obviously going crazy, he'd stop himself before it was too late. "If you're going to go around issuing challenges then the very least you could do is _honour_ them. I was just about ready to call you my rival too... and you know what-"

"Oh, shut up." Green Dragon snapped, obviously still focusing. He had turned his back toward The Ranger with No Name and was intently staring at the rooftop of a nearby building.

 _I'm a crazy loon, aren't I?_ Dylan thought, fighting himself from both retorting and also from shaking in both his proverbial and actual boots.

"Something more important is happening here..." At that, the Green Ranger leapt up and away from the fight. He turned into a bright stream of Green Morphing Energy halfway through the motion and teleported onto the roof.

He landed between SPD Pink and a dark crimson Avatar Ranger. He pointed his Dragon Dagger at the pink ranger and his Blade Blaster at the other, who he knew not was JB.

"Rangers shouldn't fight for anything other than sport. Need I remind you that, Ms. Drew?" He then turned to Zenith Ranger, not giving SPD Pink a chance to reply. "And you... I don't care who you are, but it's probably best if you don't threaten a member of SPD."

Zenith looked at the imposing figure before him. "Not to be disrespectful, but shouldn't you leave this to the actual authorit-"

He was cut off by SPD Pink. "I know, I know. It's just... I didn't know what to do! This guy gets me all riled up! I am sorry, Dr. Oliver, sir."

"Are you serious..." Zenith muttered under his breath, exasperated. _I can't believe this! She's actually a police officer... he has no right to do this! What is wrong with this world!?_

"I'm always serious." Green Ranger stated matter of factly.

He didn't know what JB's deal was, but he didn't like the way he spoke. "If you're a _real_ power ranger, like I am, then why are even considering attacking a police officer? Can you tell me, or is it a _secret_?"

 _This isn't how Tommy should act... this... this is all wrong..._ JB thought, despair sweeping over him.

Zenith looked at the crowd below, then to the Green Ranger. "I feel bad for everyone here. I truly do."

Sighing, JB turned quickly and leapt down to the crowd, hoping to lose himself in the mass. He kicked off the side of the building, almost instinctually as he fell, and landed on the opposite side of the plaza. His heart was beating faster and faster, a mix of Fear, excitement, and adrenaline. He'd never done anything like this before and was exhilarated, but he needed to taper himself. He now had _the_ Tommy Oliver on his trail. He needed to hide.

He looked around, trying to find _something_ to use as an escape. He only had _moments_... and there it was. As quickly as he could move, JB slid into a storm drain to hide in the sewers beneath the streets. He could only hope and pray that he had been quick enough to get away. If not, it was all but over for him. Not only him, but for _everyone._ Deep down he knew that if he wasn't able to find out what was going on in the city of Toku, no one would. He _had_ to unravel the mystery of Toku.


	7. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six**

The Green Dragon dashed to the edge of the roof, but was too slow to see where the Zenith Ranger had gone. He looked over his shoulder at SPD Pink and as he did so, powered down.

"I'd really like an explanation," he said, jerking a thumb back at the crowd on the ground... _his_ crowd. "I have something I need to get back to."

Sydney's insides fluttered a bit. _The_ Thomas Oliver was talking to her. She always had a bit of a crush on him, for he _was_ the greatest ranger of all time. Composing herself, she looked at him and said, "Well, this _is_ really a police matter... but I can fill you in after you finish your fight. Okay?"

Looking down, Thomas frowned. He could see his opponent, The Ranger with No Name, being escorted off the ring. The scoreboard nearby showed the match was being marked down as a scratch for "technical difficulties". He knew The League would fight this to get him a loss on his record, but that's what his agents and lawyers were for. They would use as much legal and technical jargon that was needed to show Thomas had truly left for the safety reasons. Having an officer from SPD to corroborate what happened with an official police report ensured this. Nothing to worry about.

"It would seem that fight is a non-issue now," Thomas revealed, turning back around to stare at the now demorphed Sydney Drew. "Now how about you explain to me who that kid was and why he was acting the way he was."

. . .

JB was scared. He was in an unfamiliar land, and now had the police on his tail. He knew very well how SPD could get when they were determined, and Sydney looked like the personification of determination.

He was alone and he knew not what to do. He looked from the storm drain in the sewer he found himself hiding in and peered out into the crowd. He happened to see the man from Rebel Tech: Syd, Officer Drew's cousin.

 _He's a victim, like me... Maybe if I have another ranger helping me, things will bode better? Someone to watch my back..._

"Power down," Ordered Zenith Ranger.

JB climbed out from the sewer drain on the curb of the street. People gave him odd looks as they noticed him suddenly appear where no one had been seconds earlier. Others pinched their noses: he smelled of sewer. He didn't have a hard time getting through the crowd due to people voluntarily moving away from him and his stench.

 _This is probably one of the worst moments of my life..._ JB thought as he felt his face turn red from embarrassment.

He approached Syd Drew from behind and tapped him on the shoulder.

Syd turned around, face staying blank as he stared at JB for a moment before speaking. "One, why have you been in the sewers? Two, what do you want?"

"Uh... social experiment?" JB answered the first question.

He looked around to see if Thomas or Syd had followed him down. The crowd was still buzzing from Dr. Oliver's sudden departure from the ring and the official end to the drawn out match. JB could see Dylan look furiously up to where the Zenith Ranger had been moments earlier. JB wondered where Sean, who he thought of yet as "Leather Jacket", had gone.

"Mr. Drew, I need your help."

"With what?" Mr. Drew asked simply.

"Tech, weapons... and just generally having my back." JB said quickly, looking over his shoulder to see if he'd been spotted yet.

"Who did you tick off this time?" Mr. Drew asked, annoyance finally seeping its way into his speech.

JB frowned. "It's not like that. May we go back to Rebel Tech? I would like some... privacy."

"Well it looks like this fight is dead, so alright. But don't attack anyone." Mr. Drew said, sighing.

As they began to walk away from the plaza (with JB yet getting odd glances from the people filing out to eat in between rounds), JB was lost in thought.

 _Was that last statement a joke? Or was Mr. Drew just super dry about his demands?_ JB thought. _He's such a hard guy to read sometimes... But beggars can't be choosers. I got myself into a mess and I need to be humble enough to know I can't get out of this by myself. I just_ _really_ _I'm trusting the right guy..._

. . .

Once they had settled at Rebel Tech's Headquarters, Mr. Drew sat on the foyer couch and motioned for JB to take the opposite couch in front of him. He'd decided against inviting JB into his office/lab again, for he didn't yet know how unstable JB really was and didn't want to risk damage to the experiments. That and he didn't want JB stinking up the lab.

As JB walked over to take a seat, Mr. Drew looked at him curiously. Even though JB was unpredictable, to say the least, there was something intriguing about him. Mr. Drew couldn't quite put his finger on it, and his curious nature urged him to continue allowing JB in his presence. It wasn't like he was in any real danger for Toku wasn't a place where such things ever happened, anyway.

"Alright, so what is it?" Mr. Drew asked, folding one leg over the other.

JB didn't know how to start. "What if I told you that everything you see around you is a lie?"

"I'd say you need to be sent to an Asylum." Mr. Drew answered simply.

JB nodded slowly. He knew it was the right time. Steadily, he slowly reached into the pouch on his jumpsuit and pulled out two items: The first was an insignia with a logo on it. The second was a photograph with a group of people in it.

The photograph had an elderly man shaking JB's hand. JB looked a bit thinner than he currently was, dating the picture a little. There was also a blonde, middle aged woman handing him a parchment. JB was in some ceremonial robe.

The insignia itself simply bore three letters: SPD.

He looked into Mr. Drew's eyes. "Syd, in this picture is me receiving my degree. I was to be a cadet at SPD. I entered as a mechanical engineer. That old guy is Boom, my mentor. The blonde woman handing me the diploma... that's Sydney Drew."

Mr. Drew stared at it for a moment before answering. "Impossible."

JB looked up, rubbing the bridge of his nose and moving his glasses down a bit. He slowly looked back at the man before him. "Can you get the photo analyzed? I promise you this isn't some hoax."

"Oh I have no doubt that's a real picture, I just don't believe those are who you say they are..."

Syd then pulled out his cellular phone and quickly pulled up a picture from his social media. It was of himself and Sydney, just before she joined SPD. "...because _this_ is her."

"You seem advanced enough here, or at least you should have connections: Run some facial recognition between the two photos. You'll see what I'm talking about... I just want to help you."

JB's stomach was in knots. He hated being in this situation, but he felt this was the path he could take.

Mr. Drew sighed, this time being the one to rub the bridge on his own nose. "Just what are you trying to get at here?"

JB stood up at the question, beginning to pace, turning his back to Syd as he walked. "I think someone is trying to manipulate... _everyone_. I think some group of people kidnapped everyone from Earth and sent them here, somehow. They altered everyone's memories so they think this... Toku place has always been their home.

"I was caught in an explosion during a strike at SPD Headquarters. I think that's how I wasn't affected. Since I remember everything, I think I can help save us all and return to Earth... Look, I know it sounds crazy to you, but I'm telling the truth! I saw one of my own friends attack everyone! I think he may have been the first to be brainwashed... Anyway, this is all the proof I have. You guys believe you have never faced evil? Now, if someone is trying to beat everyone... wouldn't the best tactic be to make everyone believe there _isn't_ evil? Convince everyone they don't exist, so they can spring a trap on them before they could even think? So when the time came to defend themselves... they can't...?"

"But if that were the case... Putting all the Rangers on a planet without evil, making them eager to fight? That would be an incredibly foolish idea." Mr. Drew retorted.

"I don't know everything, but... isn't what I'm holding, though, proof enough that _something_ is going on?" JB pleaded. "Also... someone spoke to me after I left you guys. Through my ranger gear. Someone had the capacity and access to do such a thing."

"Or you're hearing things. You aren't the most stable person I've ever met, JB," Mr. Drew stated honestly.

"What you're holding is proof that SPD has some older people working for them. Plus, let's say that _is_ her. Who is the person I've grown up with? I guarantee you a DNA test will say she's the real Sydney."

"Yes! She _is_ the same person. I have been thinking about it, and I believe some people may have been aged, or something. All of your memories, growing up with her, were implanted: they never happened! Look, I know this may be tough to swallow. Don't you think that this deserves some looking into? This photo was taken 19 months ago. If it is shown this is in fact your cousin, doesn't this amount to _something_?"

"If I get the pictures analyzed, will it make you stop pushing the issue?" Mr. Drew asked.

"If you get the pictures analyzed, that will be the beginning of our fight. We can find out who is doing this. The person in the picture is the same person you know: that I know for sure." JB answered with conviction.

"Alright, I'll have the pictures sent in for analysis tomorrow." Mr. Drew stated. "Do you... have someplace to stay?"

JB pursed his lips before shaking his head. "No, I don't."

"Thought not..." Mr. Drew replied. "Okay then. I'll escort you to the executive offices. You can take a shower in my bathroom and I'll have some clothes brought for you to wear. I'll get your jumpsuit cleaned as well."

JB was floored. "Wow, I... I don't know what to say!"

"How about 'thank you'?" Mr. Drew asked, showing a rare smile.

. . .

Dylan woke up early most days. People, friends, and family alike... they all had the strange notion he'd rather sleep the morning away. On the contrary, he knew that "the early bird gets the worm".

His walk into town swiftly became a gentle jog, then a full on sprint once he realized what time it was.

Practically skidding to a stop he stared up at the big screen floating gracefully over the grand plaza. Though it played almost continuous highlights from the previous day's matches, he was more interested in the freshly updated league rankings scrolling around the edges.

He found his name and scanned across to its two accompanying numbers. #113 and 53%. Evidently his duel against the Green Dragon had done something fantastic... his rank still hadn't budged much, but his popularity ratio had shot up through the roof! No matter how many people showed up to see Dr. Thomas Oliver beat some kid down, if you beaned him on the head with a baseball bat and continually evaded his most powerful attacks through "unconventional" means... it earned you some measure of respect!

Dylan would take that kind of result any day, even if that respect was based on making a crowd laugh and not, you know, actually winning. It was the best he'd felt about The League in a very long time.

"Not bad for a Ranger with No Name!" He said happily.

. . .

Sydney Drew looked at her computer screen at the file again. She didn't understand what it meant, but it was definitely something she had never seen before.

She had wanted the opportunity to show Dr. Oliver the file after he conversation but she was unable to get a hold of him: he was too distracted with the rest of his tournament and not returning her calls.

"He probably forgot we even talked..." She muttered to herself. She let the man leave her memory and continued to stare at the monitor.

Nodding quickly to herself, she picked up the phone and sent a text message to her cousin. She never heard back from him and was hoping he was well.

*heya, cuz! sup? u ok? i ddnt hear back from u & wnna make sur u ok. txt bck soon!*

Soon thereafter, she received a text back saying:

Syd pulled out his phone and texted back.

*Yeah, I'm fine. Just got sidetracked and wasn't able to reply.*

Sydney sent a simple text back:

*okay. was worried. let me no if u need anythng!*

*I'm fine, see you later Sydney.*

Sydney raised an eyebrow at the last text. _Hunh... he must be busy with tech stuff and can't text back. Oh, well... at least psycho boy hasn't done anything to him!_

 _. . ._

Meanwhile, JB walked into the reception area, having left to do some light cardio around the Rebel Tech building. After having finished up and seeing employees walking into the building to start their work day, JB followed them in.

He walked up to the receptionist and smiled. "My name is JB. I am here to see Sydney Drew. He is expecting me."

She smiled and told him she'd been made aware. JB was then directed to take a seat and wait. While he waited, he wondered where the other ranger, Hunter, had gone. He was a nice guy and had stuck up for him when he needed it. JB was yet worried about the person who'd tapped into his comms and wanted as much back up as possible should things go in that direction.

JB continued to look around, increasingly impressed with what he saw. He knew Boom would love to get his hands on some of the tech he saw. He looked down sadly at the thought of his mentor.

 _I will get back home..._ He thought.

"You okay?"

JB shot up and slapped a smile onto his face. "Doing fine now. Nice to see you, Mr. Drew. How has your day been?"

"Fine."

JB stood for a moment, waiting to see if there was more. Realizing that was all Syd was going to say about his day, JB furrowed his brow.

"Are you okay? I mean... you seem a bit off... Is it because you received the results?" JB waited with abated breath.

Mr. Drew shook his head. "They should be arriving soon."

"...Okay..." JB answered, deciding not to press the issue.

 _Why is he giving me the cold shoulder?_ JB wondered.

"Is there anything you want me to do while we wait?" JB asked, hoping to brighten up the conversation.

"Well... there _is_ a new motorcycle that needs testing..." Mr. Drew said, still showing the blank expression he usually wore on his visage.

"How would you like me to test it?" JB asked, not sure if this was a better conversation or not.

"Just ride it and see if you can break it." Mr. Drew answered simply.

"Wait... You _want_ me to try to break it!?" JB asked incredulously.

"Well if it can't take the abuse of being used, it clearly isn't ready."

JB instantly knew where he wanted to drive to if he did this test for Mr. Drew: he had seen an interesting industrial type building when he first ran into town, on the outskirts of the city. He wanted to do some investigating around there.

"Count me in! You're coming, too, right?" JB asked, still paranoid about going too far off alone.

"Naturally. It's being loaded onto a truck in the back now. We'll get to the test track and you can do your worst."

 _Oh, drat. I guess I'll have to investigate some other time..._ JB thought, disappointed he couldn't go to the building and that there was a predetermined testing ground. It made more sense than free roam driving for a test vehicle, but it still disappointed JB nonetheless.

"Sounds great! So, do I follow you?" JB said, trying to keep the conversation "chipper".

"Do you have a car, or need a ride?" Mr. Drew asked out of courtesy, sure he knew what JB's answer would be.

"I would appreciate a ride..." JB said sheepishly.

JB walked, actually feeling excited to be doing something not related to his thoughts of conspiracy, letting Mr. Drew's odd behavior slip from his mind. JB smiled as Mr. Drew stopped at a high end Mercedes S Class.

"Alright, in you go." Mr. Drew said, a slight smile appearing on his face as he opened the door.

JB noted the smile, but couldn't figure out what it was about. He climbed in through the front passenger door and promptly buckled himself in.

"You're the first person who hasn't been surprised by the car..." Mr. Drew remarked, the smile being replaced by a slight frown. He buckled in himself and began to drive away.

 _Oh, so that's what the smile was about! He is proud of his car! _JB thought, happy to see some sort of humanity from Mr. Drew.

"So sorry!" JB quickly apologized, not wanting to sour Mr. Drew's mood. "I personally am into the more modern look, but I can definitely appreciate collecting antiques like this! It looks great! I'm surprised you're even driving it! I'd be too afraid to have a vintage model like this get scuffed up, especially with it looking so new. Props for keeping it looking factory fresh!"

"Vintage? This is... this is _factory new._ Just got delivered last week." Mr. Drew asked, sadness replaced by confusion.

JB looked surprised. "Hmm... So this is the model they have you guys on here?"

JB then chose his next words carefully to not start another incident. "Where I'm from, these types of cars are pretty old. I think sometime around 2015!"

Mr. Drew furrowed his brow, keeping his eyes on the road. "... It's only 2014. May 2nd."

JB looked at Syd, stunned. There was silence for a bit of time before JB sighed.

"I hope we get the photo back soon: where I'm from? The year is 2050." JB stated, trying to collect his scattered thoughts about Mr. Drew's revelation.

"So what, you're friends with the Omega Ranger?" Syd asked, jokingly.

JB looked at Syd, shocked yet again. "Yeah... I was... er... am... He was a very good buddy of mine... before all of _this_. Why would you mention him?"

"He's from the future and came back to this time. I was making a joke." Mr. Drew answered, his emotionless face back on.

After a moment of silence, JB looked to Mr. Drew. "Do you think that maybe... I come from the future?"

"That would make more sense than somehow every Ranger ever created being moved to another planet and everyone getting brainwashed," Mr. Drew answered with a sideways cock of the head as he shrugged. "Maybe you came through the same wormhole he did?"

JB considered the thought. If that was the case, though, why was the past someplace called "Toku"? He'd never heard of it before, and with the objects he was at night it was obvious he wasn't on some unknown city on Earth. The timing did make Sydney's age make more sense to him, but... she hadn't become an officer in 2014. She was actually in either high school or middle school in 2014, if he remembered correctly.

 _This doesn't make sense. She's actually older than she's supposed to be if this is 2014!_ JB thought, flustered. _You know what? Whoever it is that did this to us may have just given us a bogus date or something... I dunno... No reason arguing it now without the photo analyzed. I'm just going to go along with it for now, instead of rocking the boat._

He thought about the day it had all began once again, flashes of blue and white armor passing through his memories. He shook his head as if to physically remove the thoughts. Those images still hurt. He'd felt so betrayed... JB looked out the window for a distraction.

"Makes as much sense as anything else," JB decided to answer as he stared off.

"Yeah..." Mr. Drew replied, though the same sorts of questions were racing through his head and, for the first time, he was having more doubts and paranoid thoughts than JB was having.

 _What if JB was right? His reaction to the car had been genuine..._ Mr. Drew thought. _He really thought it was a vintage car. But if that's true... What is actually going on? And who is behind it?_


	8. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

Expensive cars come and go in busy cities, and Dylan wasn't known for taking much more notice of them than anyone else, even as Mr. Drew's pride and joy drove past him. He was still focused pretty intently on the scoreboards, committing each upward or downward change to memory. If he were to ever achieve his goal, he'd have to beat them... _all_ of them. It was a pretty exciting thought!

In his hand was a blank tech disk. He spun it around his finger as he thought.

In the car, though, there was someone who happened to notice Dylan.

"Hey... isn't that guy sitting on the curb over there the guy who hit Tommy... er... Dr. Oliver... In the head with a baseball bat?" JB asked as their expensive car began to pass Dylan's location.

"I do believe it is..." Mr. Drew said, though his mind was still focused on his prior conversation with JB and the implications it carried.

Mr. Drew, without having been asked, pulled the car over the first moment traffic allowed. It would be a short walk to reach Dylan, but it appeared the two were subconsciously drawn to The Ranger with No Name. As the duo approached Dylan's location, JB noticed the disk in Dylan's hand.

"Mr. Drew? He seems to be in the battle scene a lot, and since we seem to have lost Hunter, should we recruit him for your black box experiment? I mean, he may even be able to help test the bikes, too." JB asked, hoping he didn't sound too desperate. He was secretly still hoping to gain recruits, for he yet feared whoever it was that was behind what he was certainly positive was a conspiracy that led to his transportation to the new, odd planet.

He looked at Syd expectantly, awaiting his "mentor's" answer.

"I don't see why not." Mr. Drew answered in his characteristic, nonchalant manner. "If he wants to, of course."

Deciding to not risk Mr. Drew's nature to drive Dylan away, JB spoke first. "Hello! I don't know if you remember me... we met before your fight against Dr. Oliver! I'm JB? My friend and I have something we want to ask you, if you don't mind?"

"Oh?" Dylan looked up at them and raised an eyebrow. _It makes sense people are wanting to talk to me... this may be the beginning of me shooting up to celebrity status! Even B or C list is fine for me!_

It then dawned on him exactly who he was talking to. "Hey... I _do_ remember both of you from the match yesterday. How's it going?"

For some reason, Dylan's British accent caught JB offguard this time. Perhaps it was the fact he'd been still suffering from culture shock when they first met. But at that moment, JB thought about how accents worked and it was that accents may have developed on Toku and what the odds were that same accent existed on Toku as it did on Earth. It was another thought leading JB to believe everyone on this planet truly had been transported from Earth, and it was all connected back to the attack on SPD Headquarters.

Bubbling over inside, trying to suppress it, JB found himself suddenly speaking in a little too quickly of a manner. "As good as things can be for me at the moment. Congrats on your match yesterday, by the way! I heard a lot of people talking about you on my run this morning!

"The reason we stopped by is because we want to ask for your help on a project Mr. Drew is conducting for Rebel Tech." JB said as he produced a black box from his pocket. "These are used to record data from battles. Mr. Drew is working on some battle equipment involving the Avatar Disks. He is also working on vehicle preparations. We would love a seasoned fighter like you to help!"

JB was surprised he had spouted off so much about Rebel Tech and Syd's work. _I guess I absorbed a lot more than I thought while reading those pamphlets in Rebel Tech's waiting room!_

"The walking encyclopedia speaks the truth," Mr. Drew stated, the slightest hint of a smirk seen for a brief moment on his face.

Dylan stood, processing the information before pocketing his blank Tech Disk. "Well I wouldn't call myself _seasoned_ or anything... whatever that means. I don't even _like_ pepper... but hey, if I have to take too much time out of fighting for this dealio, then I'm afraid I can't help you. I'm so close to victory, well, relatively anyway... I can't afford any wasted time."

He thought for a moment longer, then once more pulled out his blank Disk. It seemed he couldn't leave the thing alone. He'd bought it not a day or two ago, but hadn't yet decided what to do with it.

"Are you suggesting you could load this disk up with some awesome equipment, though? I love being able to teleport in my trusty bat, but a guy can always use some extra help!"

"Not quite," Mr. Drew answered before a "look" appeared on his face. "Actually... I could, in a way, eliminate the need for disks entirely."

"You could?" Dylan answered, turning the statement over in his mind. He didn't know much, if anything, about the Technique Disk System, but it seemed like this _Mr. Drew_ character knew at least a little about what he was talking. "I dunno... Disks can be a pretty good tactical advantage."

"You misunderstand," Mr. Drew retorted. "You wouldn't lose the abilities, but the physical Disk object themselves would be obsolete. You could bind them directly to your powers, freeing up the Disk space for a different, additional Disk. Theoretically, stacking power infinitum."

"That's... a great idea..." He looked up at the various scoreboards, free floating a few stories above their heads, then back at Syd and JB. "And all I'd have to do is gather data for you? Nothing else right? Nothing that'll get in the way of my ultimate goal?"

 _"Ultimate goal"? Sounds a little too melodramatic for me..._ JB thought with amusement.

"Just attach one of these black boxes to your morpher," Mr. Drew answered, pointing to the black box JB was holding. "It'll do the rest while you fight. Though, if you have time, we're on our way to test some other equipment as well."

 _I suppose even the Green Dragon has his support network..._ thought Dylan, considering what colluding with Mr. Drew could potentially entail for his career aspirations.

"Alright! I'll do it. But you both have to promise to fight me one day. I have to know your strength, mate." Dylan said, folding his arms across his chest as a smug look landed upon his face.

Syd nodded as he pulled a black box from his shoulder satchel, tossing it to Dylan. "Merry Christmas."

 _Christmas!?_ JB thought. _That's impossible unless he's from Earth! Things from Earth are bleeding through into their memories! I need to figure out how to use this to my advantage... to snap them all out of this... this_ _funk_ _!_

JB nodded, hoping to gain Dylan's confidence. "We all need to spar and hone our skills from time to time. Sounds good to me!"

"Wow... this looks pretty 'techy'. Thanks!" Dylan answered sarcastically as he looked over the box, half expecting something a little more... flashy. "So, we gonna go test something out then?"

"Yes," Mr. Drew answered simply as he turned and began to walk back to the car.

As they walked (Dylan and JB needing to do a short sprint to catch up to Mr. Drew's long gait and head start), JB decided to ensure there was no silence. He was very paranoid about losing Dylan as an ally. He knew he needed all of the help he could get for... whatever it was that was to come. And that something _was_ coming, he was certain.

"Could I get an answer to a question?" JB asked rhetorically.

Before he could continue with his intended question, Mr. Drew nodded and answered, "Yes."

Slightly shaking his head as if to regather his thoughts, Mr. Drew's answer having been so quick it caught JB offguard, he continued. "Would there be any problems stacking certain powers? Like, what if I put together a _really_ bad cocktail of powers. Am I unable to take them off my powers, or are they permanent?"

"To be honest? I don't know," Mr. Drew answered. "Until I have enough data to perform a proper test, I simply can't tell you any of that. The first attempt resulted in the only Disk we had for the experiment being destroyed."

 _Interesting..._ JB thought.

As Mr. Drew finished speaking, they arrived back at his vehicle.

"Well... get in, then." Mr. Drew half-commanded, waving his arm as if it were his invitation to them.

. . .

Hunter walked down the streets of his beloved city, Toku. He truly loved the sites, sounds, and _especially_ how League oriented the city was. He was a small town boy who had recently moved to "the big city" and had hopes of making a decent life for himself. Make some money with The League and have some odd jobs to the side.

So far... things weren't working out _exactly_ how he'd planned.

He had been very excited at the prospect of gaining some recognition fight the Green Dragon, but his hopes had been dashed after Green Dragon had cancelled the line-up for the first day and his name had gone back into the hat. He'd seen that he in fact _had_ been picked to fight that first day, but ever since the re-shuffle he hadn't heard anything. With only one day left of the fights, Hunter feared he wouldn't get his name picked in the raffle and would have to wait for another shot at a big name fight.

 _Hopefully someone like Adam Park or Danny Delgado comes by... Not as big in name but still something..._ Hunter thought as he walked with his hands in his pockets. _Now... what can I do while I wait? I know my neighbors were planning a vacation... maybe I can offer to babysit their kids while they're gone? Hopefully they haven't already picked someone..._

Suddenly, he saw one of the scoreboards and his eyes happened upon Dylan's ranger alias, The Ranger with No Name. _Wow! See,_ _that's_ _what I had hoped would happen to_ _me_ _! Oh, well... Can't be envious of other people's good fortune. What Dad always said... My chance will come. Just gotta be patient!_

As he mulled over what he had seen from Dylan's match, he recalled what had caused him to miss a good chunk of it: the incident with JB. _Man, that guy... there was something about him... he was crazy, for sure, but... I dunno... You know what? He is definitely someone needing some help. I don't have anything going on right now, and who knows how things are fairing with him right now? He may need someone on his side. Maybe he's being mistreated and is unable to defend himself? I mean, being that mentally unstable could lead him to being on the wrong end of the law! Yeah... I'm gonna go check on him..._

With that, Hunter decided to go check on JB. He began to walk, now with purpose. Deciding on a course of action, Hunter decided the best place to start to see if he could find JB would be returning to Rebel Tech.

. . .

On the way to the experiment site, Dylan thought about all the things he'd rather be doing than testing _anything_ for _any_ random company. Of course, if he played his cards right today he'd not only have a competitive advantage over the other league rangers, he'd have found himself some permanent sparring partners. He needed to think about the long game, and sometimes sacrifices were needed.

 _Not bad going as far as wastes of time are concerned,_ He told himself as the car continued to roll on.

After another few moments, Mr. Drew found himself pulling into the site. He smiled as he watched the semi carrying the bikes was already there and preparing to unload.

JB hopped out of the car. He slammed the door shut.

 _I hope Syd didn't notice..._ He thought.

Following Mr. Drew, he made his way to the semi carrying the bikes. They reminded him of the Delta Patrol Cycles.

 _I finally get to jump on one of these! I'm so gonna brag to Bridge when I..._

He remembered what his situation was at that moment yet again. He had tried to occupy his mind with other thoughts during the car ride, but at that point he saw that no matter what, he would inevitably find himself thinking back to the predicament he was hoping to pull himself out of. He put on a fake smile and waited for the bikes to be unloaded.

Two bikes were unloaded, both of them resembling bikes used by previous ranger teams. Lightspeed Rescue's Trans-Armor Cycle and Operation Overdrive's Hovertek Cycle were the designs Mr. Drew had used to inspire him when coming up with these new vehicles. Both of them were in an unpainted white color.

"Cool," was about all Dylan could manage. He meant it that time, too. In truth, he'd never had much use for a bike. He was an arena fighter more than anything, but the prospect of adding an extra string to his bow excited him.

"Could do with a lick of paint," he added with a grin.

"These are prototypes, so they haven't been painted yet," Mr. Drew replied defensively.

JB grinned as well.

"Add some orange, right?" JB said, smiling as he had insinuated the orange coloring on Dylan's ranger form. He laughed and took a step toward the vehicles.

"Yeah, why not?" Dylan smiled.

JB turned to Dylan again as Mr. Drew approached the crew to speak with them about how to set the bikes up for the test. "So, how long have you been a competitive fighter?"

"Well, I hope there are as few bugs in 'em as possible, cause I totally want one of my own!" Dylan said excitedly while he walked over to one as his mind fell back to the instructions about the test Mr. Drew had given him during their ride. "So you basically want us to wreck them, right?"

"Just drive them as hard as you can," Mr. Drew answered. "We'll be back here keeping an eye on things."

JB stood by, eyeing the remaining cycle. He wanted to see if Mr. Drew wanted to drive in the first run.

As Dylan looked over the controls quickly, Mr. Drew looked to JB. "I have already given you an invitation... Is there a problem?"

JB's face flushed. "Well, no. I was just thinking you perhaps would've liked to do this first run yourself."

"Why would you think that?" Mr. Drew asked sincerely, though JB interpreted the response as a snarky retort.

"Sorry..." JB said, feeling as if he'd been slapped for being dumb as he quickly made his way to the cycle. "Do we stay here on the track? Also, are there any obstacles to ram?"

"It's designed to provide as many hazards as possible. Jumps, rocky terrain, steep climbs, usual fair. No ramming, this is an engine test." Mr. Drew answered, honestly confused over why both Dylan and JB were so emphatic about trying to purposefully destroy the equipment.

"Zenith: Ascension!" JB yelled as he morphed into Zenith Ranger. Excited, he jumped onto one of the cycles.

"See you in a few!" Zenith said, saluting with his two fingers as a farewell. He gripped the throttle and sped down the track.

"He didn't have to morph..." Mr. Drew said with a sigh, turning to the techs monitoring the cycle. "Please keep an eye on him. I'm... beginning to think he may not have been the best person to trust with this..."

"Ah, but it _is_ way cooler morphed," said Dylan, mounting the other bike as he instamorphed into The Ranger with No Name. He _was_ keen, though, to see what state JB's came back in before heading out himself.

Mr. Drew shook his head. "Call back to the main office and please have them e-mail to me the specifics on the insurance we have on these bikes. Oh, boy..."

. . .

As Zenith Ranger raced down the track, he saw a fork in the road. One lead to a hole in the middle of the track, and the other seemed like some fairly rocky terrain.

 _Let's do this..._ Zenith thought. He always seemed to be more confident when morphed. He raced down the track with the hole. As he got closer, he noticed a small ramp in front of the hole. The hole seemed to be about 100 yards in diameter.

 _Time to see how strong this suit is..._ He thought. He went around the ramp and headed straight for the hole without the ramp's help.

Racing down, Zenith lifted himself off of his seat, keeping his feet on the plates of the cycle and his hands on the throttle. Right before he hit the hole, using the sheer force his power suit gave him, he kept his feet clipped into the plate and lifted the cycle off the ground. The physics of the situation boggled Zenith's mind. He had always wanted to try something like what he was doing. The thrill of having so much power and speed was something he would never let go.

He landed on the opposite side of the hole, skidding to the side to face the hole again.

"Being a ranger _rules_!" He exclaimed, smiling in his helmet. He turned his vehicle around and continued to speed down the road, ready for his next challenge.

. . .

Dylan continued his ride, not having quite the same amount of fun JB was having. He even found himself sighing out of boredom throughout a lot of the obstacles. He began to think about why he had been so against joining Mr. Drew and JB in the first place... the only thing that really ever gave him enjoyment was The League. After about ten minutes, he turned and began to make his way back to the test site.

 _I hope this collusion is worth all of this wasted time..._ He murmured mentally.

. . .

After about an hour, Zenith Ranger made his way back to Mr. Drew. He jumped off the bike and demorphed.

"How was that?" He asked, pleased with himself.

"Not bad..." Mr. Drew answered, nodding in approval.

"I have to admit... it was _really_ exhilarating!" JB answered with a dumb grin. "Is Dylan still out there? He seems like an adrenaline junkie so I wouldn't be surprised!"

"No. He left quite a while ago. I had a tech drive him back into town," Mr. Drew answered, scribbling away on a sheet on a clipboard. "And you say you think _t_ _hat_ was exhilarating?"

JB was a bit taken aback. He inferred correctly that Mr. Drew was implying that what he had done was nothing more than child's play.

"Well, for instance..." JB began, feeling his face grow red with embarrassment as he spoke. "I didn't think I could pull off that jump near the beginning of my ride was all. You know, just testing the bounds of the ranger powers while riding."

"These bikes are civilian grade. They aren't even tuned for Ranger use," Mr. Drew replied absentmindedly as he continued to make notes.

JB's face was now the color of a tomato. He knew he didn't have much experience as a ranger, but he'd thought he had been doing things which were advanced for someone with nearly no experience in actually _being_ a ranger, as opposed to the work he did at SPD behind the _engineering_ of morpher tech. Sighing, he tried to control his facial color with mental messages to his body.

"I guess I was testing my ranger power more than the bike then. Hehe... Well, ummm... I can't wait to see the ranger version!"

"The next time we're contracted for a Ranger team bike, you can be one of the testers," Mr. Drew replied simply.

"Sounds great. Is there anything else you would like for me to do?" JB asked awkwardly.

"Not at the moment," Was Syd's only response.

JB waved goodbye and started on his way out of the arena, feeling as if he'd made a fool of himself and that was why Mr. Drew was tossing him to the side. He'd disappeared so quickly that he didn't even give Mr. Drew the opportunity to think about offering a ride back to town for him. In reality, Syd was just so focused on writing down the notes from JB's ride that he was only partially aware that JB was even really there. He did, in fact, think JB thought too highly of _how_ he'd performed but the fact of the matter was that JB's ride did garner useful data for him nonetheless.

As JB walked, he began to recognize the area he was in. It was close to the industrial area he was wanting to visit earlier. He had seen it on his runs in the morning, but had not gotten the chance to stop and look at it.

JB had wanted to look into it because it struck him as odd. The actual industrial sector of this city was on the opposite side. Knowing there was a separate building, in the middle of forest, intrigued him. He hadn't seen cars parked there, but he could have sworn to have heard machinery running when he had run by. He could see the top of the plant off in the distance over the line the tops of the trees had created, blocking the rest of the building from his line of sight.

He didn't know whether there actually _was_ something fishy going on at the plant. He was bored, though, and wanted to check to keep himself occupied. He was rather confused about the situation he was in. According to Sydney Drew, it was May of 2014. Yet, his cousin, the Pink SPD Ranger, was in her twenties. Bridge had told him on one occasion all of B Squad had been born after 2001, and they were supposed to be in their late teens or early twenties during the events when Sam had traveled back in time to save SPD from being destroyed by Omni and Grumm. JB was then wondering how the Syd he met could already be in her early twenties, seeing as it is only 2014 and she should be 13 _at the oldest_. He was determine to figure out was going on, hoping it would lead to him figuring out what exactly had happened to him during the attack on SPD...

 _"SPD Emergency! Shadow Ranger!" Sky screamed as he morphed._

 _JB turned to Violet. "I have an idea. I am going to run and see if I can disconnect the terminal in the Entry. That will sever his connection to the Hall of Legends and weaken him enough so that we can bring him down. I need you to get to safety."_

 _"But, I-" Violet began._

 _"Now!" JB ordered. As he turned around, Violet sprinted away in the opposite direction._

 _As they parted ways, JB overheard a voice coming from the command center, addressing Commander Tate._ _"If that is what you want, then fine... Legend Blade!"_

 _Feeling his throat tighten, JB pushed aside his feelings and made his way to the Entry. He was shocked by what he saw upon entering: the terminal was smashed._

 _"I'll need to fix it..." JB said to himself. As he bent over, he could hear explosions occurring back in the command center. Sweat poured down his face as he attempted to connect some wires in the hope of activating the machine, to disconnect the Future: Omega Ranger from the Hall of Legends._

The memory faded again. He looked down, depressed. He knew there wasn't much he could do about what had happened before at that particular moment. Now that he was ready to go investigating, though, he could feel determination fill him. Fe focused on the morpher on his belt. Right when he was to morph, though, he stopped.

 _No need to hide this anymore. I am who I am. I am JB. I am a mechanical engineer for SPD Earth, 2050._ He pulled his SPD logo out of one of his pouches and slapped it back onto his jumpsuit, back where it used to be. Where it was _supposed_ to be. Refocusing on his morpher, he felt the power begin to course through him.

"Zenith: Ascension!"

Zenith Ranger looked off into the forest to double check if anyone was watching. He then lowered his head and began racing forward. He jumped up, leaping a good distance before landing somewhere in the woods. On his descent, he had to avoid may thick branches. He marveled at the control he had over his jump, able to pull back enough to not cause a massive crater when he landed. Focusing, he leapt up again. After landing his second jump, he found himself in front of the plant building. As it was before, there were no signs of people. He heard the same sound of machinery going on inside, though.

"Alright... time to investigate." Zenith said as he leapt up to the rooftop.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

Syd Drew was in her office. Her shift had been over for hours and yet... she couldn't bring herself to leave. She was looking at the file Detective Utahime had sent to her. She kept playing it, over and over again.

"Syd, you have to go home. You're tired," Commander Tate said, startling Syd momentarily. She looked over at him. She could see he wore a worried look on his face. He sat on the corner of her desk, opposite where she was sitting.

Syd paused the video file and sighed. "I just... have this side case I've been working on. No worries."

"'No worries'? I've seen you obsessing over this file for a while now. You gotta tell me what's going. Don't make me make that into an order." He said, flashing a smile and shoving her a little.

"Alright, fine: look."

She played the video. It showed a small section of the forest outside of the city. Suddenly, a ball of electricity appeared in the shot. A giant shockwave emanated from it as it dissipated. In the middle, a young man could be seen, lying on his back.

"What in the...? Who is that?"

"It's some guy who claims his name is JB. He's a lunatic who attacked my cousin at his office building." Syd reported as Sky squinted, looking at the video while the figure who seemed to be JB began to stand up.

"Wait... pause it right there..." He said, jumping up and running over to Syd's side of the desk. He leaned over and began typing on the computer.

"What are you doing?" Syd asked. She watched as Sky zoomed in on JB's jumpsuit.

"Do you see that?" Sky asked, pointing at her screen.

Syd put her finger on the touchscreen and drew a circle around the patch on JB's mechanic jumpsuit. She clicked a few keys and saved the image. It was the image of the SPD logo.

"I don't believe I missed it! I knew there was something I wasn't getting from this video..."

Sky smiled. "That's why I am the Commander here, right?"

"Is there a problem here?" A voice asked authoritatively. They knew who it belonged to: Anubis Cruger.

Both officers stood up and at attention. "No, sir!" They said in unison.

Cruger looked at them and shook his head. "Detective Drew, what are you still doing here? Isn't your shift over?"

Syd nodded. "Yes, Supreme Commander. I am heading out now."

"Good. I don't want to have to pay you overtime." He winked as he walked away.

"Sky, I need to see who this guy is. Maybe he's some sort of plant trying to sneak in from an SPD branch from another continent."

"Why?" Sky asked, confused. "Huh? I mean... why would a different branch of SPD send in a 'plant'?"

Syd thought for a moment. It made sense to her, and at the same time it didn't. It made no sense for someone to be so nefarious. Of course, there was always someone trying to steal, or someone trying to cheat in the games to get their stats higher, but to outright try and manipulate law enforcement for some unknown end... it was unheard of to her and it made her uneasy. Only one word came to mind.

"Because of something evil..." She replied.

"'Evil'!? Wow, you've been reading too many fairytales!" Sky laughed as he heard it come out of her mouth.

"No, Sky, I'm being serious! What if those stories aren't false? What if evil did exist in the past... and now it's coming back? What if he's the start to it all?"

Sky looked at her. "If you feel so adamant about investigating this, then I'm with you. Let me run a quick check..."

Typing in on the computer for a real time location of JB, Sky found him within moments. With his index finger, he drew a circle around the coordinates on Syd's touchscreen. It was of the plant on the opposite side of Toku.

Adjusting his uniform, Commander Sky Tate looked at Syd. "I'll go with you. Odd... It looks like he's out by some abandoned factory in the outskirts of the city."

"What factory _is_ that?" Syd asked.

Sky shrugged. "I've never seen it before. So this guy has an Avatar Morpher, too? Hunh... Well, you ready to go?"

Syd finished a text message on her wrist tech and nodded. "Yep. I just sent a message to my cousin, Sydney Drew, to meet us there. I gave him the address. I don't know if he'll come, but if he does we could use some of his gadgets."

"Wait, how did I never notice that you guys share the same name?" He asked, chuckling. Before she could reply, he shrugged and continued, "Well, he does supply our team with some great tech. Yeah, sure why not."

"Then that settles it. We're going to go and bring that guy in," Syd said with defiance. Grabbing her bag, she and Sky went out the door to find JB.

. . .

Zenith Ranger looked into the factory from up on the roof through a skylight. He was surprised to see several robots walking around, carefully picking up boxes and stacking them into what appeared to be spaceships. Thinking back to his history courses, he felt confident that he remembered who they were.

 _Cogs? From the Machine Empire?_ He thought. _What's going on here!?_

Slowly lifting up the glass on the skylight, he slipped in. His heart was beating at an impossible rate in his chest. Only after he'd made his way in did he begin to wonder if he'd triggered any silent alarms. The only thing that could quench his worry was hoping that since everyone on Toku was naive about the existence of evil that perhaps it would lead whoever was running the Cogs into a false sense of security, themselves.

While yet trying to calm his nerves, JB found himself leaping from beam to beam in the rafters, trying to stay as quiet as possible. He couldn't see anything else occurring in the warehouse outside of the stacking of boxes into the ships. He did notice off a ways a group of Cogs actually packing the boxes, but couldn't see what it was that was actually being placed in them.

 _You know... this_ _could_ _be something completely innocent..._ He found himself trying to rationalize. He'd been wrong so many times up to that point... He decided to lay low for a while longer, waiting to see if anything nefarious was actually happening. He didn't want to end up causing yet another ruckus for no reason. He wanted to learn from his mistakes. Patience would be the key to this mystery...

. . .

Syd and Sky arrived at the factory. Everything was empty out front.

"Wait... do you hear that?" Syd asked.

"Yeah, I do." Sky answered, furrowing his brow. "This thing's supposed to be abandoned according to the paperwork I looked up."

"Hmm... Well, let's give my cousin a moment to get here. If he doesn't get here soon, we'll have to go in without him." Syd stated, worry also dawning on her.

"Sounds good. I hope this JB guy isn't doing anything _too_ weird in there..." Sky added tersely, an unfamiliar feeling of Fear welling up in his heart.

. . .

Sky shook his head. "It's been fifteen minutes already! I say we go in _now_."

Sydney frowned. She'd wanted her cousin to arrive, but he kept sending messages stating how he was trying to peel himself away from a board meeting. Sighing, she nodded to her superior officer.

"Okay... I guess..."

Following Sky's lead, they both pulled out their badges.

 _"SPD: Emergency!"_

The two rangers walked into the warehouse through the front door. They looked around, curious to see what they would find. Without a moment's hesitation, several Cogs ran up to attack them.

"What in the world are _these_!?" SPD Blue, Sky, yelled out.

The Pink Ranger swatted several away. "I don't know! They don't seem friendly, though!"

"Sky to SPD! This is Commander Tate to SPD!" He shrieked as he ducked a Cog's fierce punch. "I need back-up immediately! Hostiles!"

"I am sorry, Commander Tate," An unfamiliar voice echoed in his helmet. "I cannot have any witnesses."

"What the- oof!" Commander Tate found himself gasping as he took a gut punch without preparation.

SPD Pink gasped as she watched the Blue Ranger fly through the air and slam into a wall. She rushed over to his side and helped him up as the Cogs began to march menacingly toward them.

"Retreat!" He ordered.

Without a second's hesitation, Syd and Sky began to run toward the door back out to safety... but it was too late. The Cogs had preempted their strategy and had amassed themselves at the only exit.

"Fight it is, then!" Sky roared, rushing forward with a jump kick.

Syd rolled forward as Sky's foot connected with a Cog's head, snapping it back and bending its neck in an inhuman manner. She forward herself gasping in shock as the Cog clicked its neck back into place before she, herself, felt a hard kick to her back from one of the many Cogs.

No matter how much the two rangers fought, they couldn't seem to get through the wall of footsoldiers blocking them from getting to the center of the "abandoned" warehouse. The two rangers felt in over their heads, as this was _much_ different than their sparring sessions, or even competing in The League. These emotionless fighters were out for _blood_ and were not holding back. Plus, the material the Cogs were made from seemed to be harder than anything Sky or Syd had ever come across, including the experimental SWAT armor Dr. Manx had been working on as of late.

SPD Blue fell to his knees out of exhaustion. "Syd! Help!"

SPD Pink turned, but in the millisecond Sky had fallen to his knees he had become swarmed with Cogs. Her stomach was tied in knots as she saw a flurry of limbs descend upon her commander, trying to beat through his ranger suit to get at the man underneath. She tried with all her might to get to him, but couldn't get through the ever growing mass of Cogs. Instead of fighting her, they had switched tactics to simply grapple her limbs to prevent her from moving ahead.

As SPD Blue was able to peak his helmet out a bit to try and find anything with which to help him, he managed to see a Cog with a lead pipe about to strike him. Thinking it was the end, a sudden blur descended from the rafters and tackled the enemy down.

"Zenith Ranger, at your service!" JB cried out as he leapt off the Cog and began to dodge the Cogs trying to grab at him. Sky was relieved, as the new ranger's appearance had gotten the attention of enough Cogs to allow himself to slip out from the dogpile he had been under.

SPD Pink, recognizing JB's ranger suit, found herself growing in anger as she yelled at him. "Call off your goons!"

Finding his way to Sky, JB helped him up to his feet before being punched in the helmet. He found himself flying through the air, slamming into some sort of machinery. Sparks exploded both from his suit and the piece of equipment as Zenith Ranger fell to the floor.

"They aren't mine!" Zenith Ranger shouted back. "I don't know what's going on here! I just came to investigate! I all of a sudden saw you guys here and came to _help_!"

Weaving, ducking, and dodging attacks, the three rangers finally found themselves together.

"Now what!?" Syd asked, feeling the sweat drip down her brow in her helmet.

"We _fight!_ " Sky ordered, rushing forward and shooting at the Cogs with his blaster.

"Wish I had a weapon..." JB muttered as he rushed forward.

They tried their best to battle their way past the Cogs. The Blue and Pink Rangers were inexperienced when it came to battling foes who were truly evil, while Zenith was just plain inexperienced as a Power Ranger. They were not faring well. After what seemed like an eternity, they found themselves pushed back to the very same point which they had started their latest campaign.

SPD Blue clenched his fist. "We gotta get to the bottom of this! Power down!"

As Sky Tate appeared, he closed his eyes and focused. Suddenly, a giant force field appeared around him and the two rangers with him. He motioned for them to follow him as he ran forward.

"Sky! This is genius!" Syd exclaimed as they ran forward.

JB nodded to himself in approval. He'd forgotten about their "civilian powers" and was grateful of how Sky was using it at that moment. Hopefully the force field he'd generated would be strong enough to get them out of the warehouse. As he thought these things, the trio ran as fast as they could. Cogs bounced off the force field as they ran, and with each hit JB could see Sky wince as if it affected him either physically or mentally.

As soon as they made their way past the enemies, somewhere on the other side of the massive warehouse, Sky collapsed from exhaustion. Syd rushed to his side, shocked to find that he was unconscious.

"Sky!" SPD Pink yelled, kneeling next to him. She could hear the impossibly large group of Cogs making their way closer to them. "JB! What are those things!?"

JB wasn't surprised to hear she didn't know what they were. Not anymore. During his investigation, he had given much thought to his predicament. He was fairly certain he had figured out what was happening to him and how to explain how he'd gotten to Toku.

"In my dimension, they were called Cogs," JB explained simply. "They were from the Machine Empire. They're a nasty bunch."

"What are you talking about!?" Syd demanded.

Zenith Ranger shook his head. "Never mind. Just... get him out of here, got it? I'll try and slow them down. If you climb up to the rafters you'll find an open skylight. These suckers can climb, though, so I'll stay down here to distract them."

"But they'll destroy you!" Syd demanded, suddenly realizing JB truly wasn't the enemy she'd thought he was.

Zenith chuckled, shrugging as he did. "For all I know, I'll never get back to my home anyway... If I'm going down, tt least I'll go down saving someone. Especially fellow members of SPD. It's been an honor, Syd."

"But-" She started.

"They're coming! Go!" Zenith yelled. The Pink Ranger nodded her head and, with Sky now over her shoulders, ran to where she could climb up unseen.

Zenith got into a fighting stance as he heard the Cogs coming. He had never been so scared in his life. And, at that point as if the thought were placed their by some exogenous force, he remembered something. He reached into the pouch on his belt that had come with the Avatar Morpher. He pulled out the Disk he had yet to put to use. The one which read on its outer rim two words: Triassic Shield.

He popped it into the Disk Reader. Unlike the first and only time he had attempted to use it, there were no sparks or smoke. It seemed as if Dr. Drew had really fixed his Avatar Morpher. Golden shoulder pads appeared on his suit, reminiscent of the Triassic Ranger of the Dino Thunder team JB was familiar with. The red dots on his crimson uniform had a shift in color: a third of them became blue and another third became yellow, leaving the rest the familiar red color they had always been. JB reasoned this was due to the Triassic Ranger being a composite of the three main Dino Thunder Rangers' power, according to Ranger history. What he didn't notice due to his line of sight were the dots surrounding his neck which turned white, and the neck part of the suit itself going from a white color to black. That was due to the Black and White Dino Thunder Rangers having to have donated portions of their power, as well, to the Triassic Shield before Connor had used it decades earlier on JB's home dimension.

oHaving become the Triassic Zenith Ranger, JB felt more power than he ever had before. He remembered during one class at the SPD Academy learning about Universal Dino Energy. He knew now that specific energy existed in this universe, as well, and he had tapped into it.

He charged forward and began fighting the Cogs. With one punch, he caused several Cogs to explode when his power emanated from one punch to several assailants in the vicinity. JB then leapt up into the air, crashing down on more of his enemies as he landed. They, themselves, had "rusted" a bit when it came to combat, since their plans for Toku had been covert for so long. They were unaccustomed to direct confrontations, especially with someone carrying the power JB now possessed.

It was almost as if he didn't need to think when he fought. The morpher seemed to integrate into his neural networks, allowing him feel access to his body's potential. Allowing his thoughts to be translated into movements without having practiced them, creating memory traces as he fought. It reminded him of his study's into the morphers created by the legendary Zordon of Eltar. Morphers he'd tried to emulate when he was helping design them for SPD.

Triassic Zenith Ranger then remembered something he had learned about Connor McKnight and his Triassic powers: he could get his opponents trapped in a dimension that amplified his powers to battle them there. That was how he had defeated a possessed Trent Fernandez when he had been the evil White Dino Ranger. JB flipped out from the middle of battle effortlessly. With some space between himself and his foes, JB began to focus as the Cogs ran toward him.

"Time for you guys to meet me in the Triassic Dimension!" Triassic Zenith declared as he felt himself tap into the power which would allow him to open up the portal to that dimension.

As his Morpher activated the dimension, sparks shot out from around Zenith. He saw a blue orb beginning to erupt from his morpher. He recognized it from when he was working on the computer panel in The Entry while the Future: Omega Ranger was attacking their base back in his dimension. He had a good guess what was going to happen next.

"Oh, great..." Zenith managed to mutter as he was enveloped by the blue dimensional orb.

. . .

Outside the warehouse, the Pink SPD Ranger demorphed as she tried to awaken Sky.

"Syd? What happened?" Sky said suddenly, his face contorted into a wince of pain as he woke up.

"You saved us all. That's what happened." She replied, smiling.

"Wh... where's that guy with the Avatar Morpher," Sky asked, sitting up. "JB?"

Syd's face fell as she remembered him. Leaping to her feet, she looked back to the building and said, "I'm going back to help him now. He stayed behind to-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a black jet fly out from seemingly nowhere. As it flew over the building, a sole missile erupted from it and zoomed downward. Without any ceremony, the missile landed on the warehouse. It exploded right before them.

"No!" Syd screamed as Sky instinctively launched his force field around them.

Deactivating the shield once the explosion was no longer a threat, Sky stood up. Syd began to run toward the wreckage but he grabbed her from behind, holding her back. "It's too late. Syd... Syd! It's too late..."

Syd turned to him, demorphing as she did. "Who could've done this!?"

"Obviously someone trying to hide something," Sky answered angrily. "I don't know who, though..."

"I'm going to find out, Sky," Syd said after a moment of silence, determination in her eyes. "I'm going to find out what is happening here on Toku."


	10. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

The blonde-haired agent lifted a finger to his earpiece. Before him lay the ruins and remains of the "abandoned" warehouse. It had been days since the _incident_ and with no agents on the site, the agent was free to go over the wreckage by himself.

"Sir, this is Silver. I have good news and bad news."

"Then for heaven's sake... just hit me with both!" Said a deep, gruff voice from Silver's earpiece.

"The bad news is we lost the entirety of the Gamma Operation... as well as all the Cogs, sir. Good news is…"

"This _better_ be worth it, Silver," the voice interrupted. "We lost a whole _factory_ because of you. Don't make me regret agreeing to your air strike!"

"Don't worry, sir, it's _very_ good news." Agent Silver said with a smile. "An Avatar Ranger was caught in the blast, along with a couple of SPD officers. They didn't have time to investigate fully. The operation will not come to the light of day."

"Hmm... hardly the payoff you promised… but it could have gone much worse," The voice replied. "Be thankful, Agent Silver. You get to live another day."

" _Thank_ you, sir," Silver sneered openly. He then cut the comm link as he frowned. _If I ever meet that guy I'll- I swear it'll be his last breath, for the sake of Toku... and Outpost 35._

 **. . .**

 _ **3 Months After the Attack on the Warehouse**_

"And there we have it!" The Announcer boomed over the stadium's sound system. "The Ranger with No Name proves, _yet again_ , that no one knows Teleportation Tech quite like he does!"

The Ranger with No Name raised his fists in the air to a mighty roar from the crowd. He pressed the buckle of his Avatar Morpher and his Buster Tech: Marker System Transport Disk leapt up into his hand. The Go-Buster symbol and harness disappeared from his now infamous white, orange, and black suit.

The announcer continued as the victorious Avatar Ranger showboated his way around the stadium.

"He stands at the top of an unprecedented thirty win leap from the bottom of the table. This guy is quickly becoming a Redrock League favorite. Over to you on the ground for the next fight!"

From a distance, a familiar figure watched on: Sean, the Blood Pride Ranger. He scoffed as he watched Dylan walk around the ring, shaking his head.

 _What a fool..._ Sean thought. _All of them! They don't know what's coming for them... They continue with this stupid game like the sheep they have been fooled into becoming. But soon the time will come when they will be begging for mercy. I can only hope to have everything in place before then, else they'll all be consumed by his unquenchable thirst for power..._

"Sigma?" Sean stated as he turned his back on the fight?

"Yes, sir?" A robotic voice was heard replying back into his headset.

"Have you found the second stone?" Sean asked with an even tone.

"Yes, sir. It is secure with the lock," Sigma replied.

"Then onward to the third..." Sean said more to himself than his loyal assistant. With a grunt, the Blood Pride Ranger leapt off into the distance.

. . .

Mr. Sydney Drew sat at his desk, staring at the picture of his cousin he kept in a pink frame. After the incident at the warehouse, for which he had yet to forgive himself for not going to help, he had only spoken to his cousin once before she and Commander Sky Tate had disappeared. He had complained time and time again to SPD and had even confronted Supreme Commander Cruger himself, but had been only told that Officer Drew and Commander Tate had been sent out on assignment and their whereabouts were classified.

"Mr. Drew?" Hunter's voice was suddenly heard at the door to Sydney's office, causing him to jump up in his seat.

"Hunter... sorry, I was lost in thought," Sydney answered, motioning for Hunter to come in. "What do you have for me?"

After Hunter had attempted to find JB and could not, he had come by day after day to Rebel Tech in hopes of finding evidence of what had happened until one day he had bumped into a distraught Sydney. It was that day that Sydney had discovered his cousin's disappearance. He relayed all Syd had told him about the incident at the warehouse and JB's involvement. Since that time, Hunter and Mr. Drew had worked together trying to find anything they could about the incident so that Mr. Drew could find his cousin and Hunter could find JB.

"Well, this morning I was able to find something I think you'll find very interesting," Hunter reported, taking a seat in front of Mr. Drew's desk. "While running that facial recognition software you taught me, the program found your cousin!"

Mr. Drew could hardly believe his ears. Shaking his head, he sat up intently. He was unable to find the words, so he motioned with his hand for Hunter to continue speaking.

"She was spotted alone in Redrock. No sign of Commander Tate," Hunter said. "It was a snippet... It's obvious she is doing all she can to stay unspotted. If you check the file I left in the company server, you'll see two thirds of her face in a crowd outside of a League fight. And guess what? That guy who JB introduced us to, Dylan, was the fighter."

Mr. Drew furrowed his brow. "So you're saying there is a connection?"

Hunter shrugged. "It seems too much of a coincidence."

"Well, get yourself ready, Hunter," Mr. Drew said as he stood up. "We're heading to Redrock."

. . .

A man in a black suit walked down the street. He wore a bowler upon his head, but it was obvious the man was completely bald. He didn't even have hair on his eyebrows. He pulled out what appeared to be a small device and waved it around the plaza at the heart of the city of Toku. After the device began to beep, he put it up to his mouth.

"This is August. The Jumper from the Time Anomaly Source did indeed find his way to this universe. From my readings, it would appear as if he is no longer here."

The man known simply as August continued to walk, his eyes darting around as if he was surveying everything around him. He then quickly punched in some foreign code into the device and began to speak into it again.

"From my calculations, the Jumper has gone to Universe W2BEEL2," August said into his pocket device. "I am heading there now to contain him and stop the Time Anomaly from spreading."

"See that you do," A voice replied from the device. "The Supreme cannot have September's actions continue to wreak havoc across the multiverse. We already have our hands full with the new threat who is threatening the Crisis Crunch. We are depending upon you to reign this in, August. We'll send Freelancers to you if we can spare them."

"Understood," August replied as he turned a corner into an alley. Without another word, August pushed a button on his pocket device and a moment later seemed to walk into the wall before him, vanishing into thin air.


End file.
